


To See Beyond Forever

by Siluri_Sanguine



Series: Through Dark Waters [2]
Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Expansion, F/M, Low Chaos Emily Kaldwin, Post-Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, The Outsider is 21 going on 4000, The Outsider was older than 15 when sacrificed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:54:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siluri_Sanguine/pseuds/Siluri_Sanguine
Summary: Billie didn’t plan to save The Black Eyed Bastard but when she saw his screaming face, his writhing torso captured within stone, something broke inside her. She felt for him.
Relationships: Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster & The Outsider, Corvo Attano & Emily Kaldwin, Corvo Attano & The Outsider, Emily Kaldwin & Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster, Emily Kaldwin/The Outsider
Series: Through Dark Waters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550863
Comments: 59
Kudos: 60





	1. An Assassin's Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> Rating Mature until chapter 8, where rating changes to explicit. The explicit part can be skipped for those not wishing to read it in the chapter. 
> 
> The Outsider in my story is taken at 15, but not sacrificed until he turns 21.   
> Thus he is a 21 going on 4000 year old man to Emily's 26

* * *

Billie Lurk didn’t plan to save The Black Eyed Bastard but when she saw his screaming face, his writhing torso captured within stone, something broke inside her. She felt for him.

She had learnt through her search for this place about how The Outsider was created, how he was taken from the streets as a young boy, conditioned and abused by cultists desperate to appease the Void and sacrificed to become it's god, trapping his body in this dark empty part of the Void for over 4000 years. That he had no choice in the matter, his voice and name taken away.

In the end as The Outsider, all he ever offered the rare few who met him was a choice, a choice he was never given. Anyone who received his Mark could do with it what they pleased. He forced no control over them. Any bad actions were on the person, not him. He just watched as events unfolded, sometimes disappointed, sometimes fascinated by the outcomes.

  
Daud argued that he would never have done the things he had done without his Mark, but was that true? Would he have still gone down the dark path of an assassin for hire? He blamed everyone else, everything else, as looking into himself would answer too many dark questions. That’s why his spirit was trapped in the Void, unable to pass on, caught to forever be haunted by his deeds as his identity was lost to bitterness and regret.

Billie knew only the dead could speak the ancient language that The Outsider's name came from and had used what she had learnt to convince Daud to release The Outsider, to forgive, to return his name and give him a chance at life and in doing so Daud was finally given peace, his trapped spirit released from the Void into oblivion.

\----------------------

As The Outsider woke from his more than a millennia long sleep, his black eyes cleared to the palest green Billie had ever seen. They were as wide as a child's in that moment, suddenly aware that he was indeed awake and very much alive. He blinked and looked at his saviour, this assassin who had given him his life instead of taking it.  
  


“You’ve done something impossible. These eyes were closed for centuries and I saw everything. Bound here, I walked through the minds of generations and now…”  
  


“You're free.” Billie gently replied as she helped him to his feet. He was unsteady, having not used his legs for so long, but he had not withered, trapped In the moment until his release. His strength began to return to him, though his mind was unfocused.  
  


“The Void sang to me a lullaby that entranced me all these long years. It gave me a home and In return I kept it placated. I wonder what it will do now that I leave it?”

  
He looked up to see a number of huge whales circling slowly around the pillar they descended from, their mournful song echoing in the darkness.  
  


“They bid me farewell. They know I cannot reside here any more. They say I will always be a part of this place.”  
  


Billie took a tighter hold on him and helped guide him towards the vortex that led to rest of the Void. He gripped her arm, unsure of what he would see, knowing what was beyond yet unready to experience it. It was then he glanced at what he was holding. Her Void arm. He looked up in anguish and stared into her red eye.  
  


“Forgive me. I felt it was the only way to guide you at the time. The only way for you to reach me and truly see. Time was torn and in doing so, you had something that wasn’t yours. You felt it, knew it in dreams. I gave you these artefacts in their place, made from the god that came before and the very Void itself.”  
  


Billie stopped and held The Outsider by his shoulders, holding him still and looking up at him.  
  


“Did you have the right? I cant say, who does except for a god. You did what you thought was necessary. I can’t deny it, they have been useful and I was never one for appearances. You say I shouldn’t have had an eye or arm. In that case these are an improvement. What I’m saying is, I’m over it. There is nothing to forgive o.k? Not any more.”  
  


The outsider smiled then, for the first time, properly smiled and Billie continued to guide him towards the vortex. The Outsider held his breath as they passed through, a moment of doubt that he wasn't still dreaming and this was in fact reality, his reality. As they passed through from the Ritual Hold into the rest of the Void, Billie caught a glimpse of an Envisioned stuttering towards them. She readied her blade but it jaggedly walked past, pausing for a moment on them both before moving on. The Outsider gently gripped her sword arm to lower it.  
  


“They have accepted what had to happen. They will not fight you any more. Any cultists though, will be a different matter.”  
  


Billie grinned, and the twin blade vanished within herself. 

“That wont be a problem.”  
  


There was a moment of silence from The Outsider before he opened his mouth again.

“Oh, I see.”

  
”Look kid. These guys, The Eyeless, are obsessed with you, with the Void. I believed they would do anything to stop me and now I realise they would do anything to get at you.”

Billie whispered quietly as they crept up towards where the Eye of The Dead God was.

“I think I took every single one of them down on the way here but some may have escaped me. We have to be quiet now o.k?.”  
  


The Outsider nodded and stuck close to Billie, glancing towards where the Eye was. They reached it without incident and Billie reached out to touch the dead orb. In an instant they were back in the normal world, The Outsider glanced around, his hand tentatively touching the grey stone of the quarry. His eyes darted everywhere at once, from the machinery littering the floor, to the snuffed out candles and corpse of a Eyeless that rested against the blood stained floor of the cavern they were in. Billie let out the breath she had been holding.  
  


“It’s good to feel this shit air in my lungs again, come on, we have a long way to go before we’re close to being safe.”  
  


\----------------------  
  


Quietly and with many pauses along the way for The Outsider to rest, they reached her camp half way down Shindaerey Peak, tucked into an partly ruined carriage shed. Billie felt her camp near the mine was too close and she wanted to get as far away from there as possible in case any Eyeless appeared. They had only seen the corpses of those she had slain on their journey back. The Outsider has paused to look at some briefly, not understanding how to they could lose themselves willingly, knowing they would never truly understand the Void by doing so.

She helped the Outsider to sit on an dusty bench, then began searching out some supplies from a rucksack tucked behind a old locker. She started a fire to prepare what food was left and keep them warm as the night descended. Digging out a canteen of water from the bag, she took a quick swig before handing it to The Outsider, which he accepted gratefully.  
  


“I tasted blood in my mouth when I awoke, memories of a moment long past.” lifting the canteen to his mouth, he slowly swallowed gulps of water.  
  


“huh…I was worried, wasn’t sure if you’d remember how to do, you know...things.” Billie whispered almost to herself as she stirred the contents of the pot in front of her.  
  


“I was a god Billie, I didn’t need to eat or drink or sleep. But, i remember, I know how to do them all. I know how to do a great many things now in fact.”

In that moment a shard of razor sharp Void stone appeared in his free hand, in the shape of an ancient sword. Billie was suddenly taken aback and dropped her ladle into the pot.  
  


“What the Void!! How? How are you able to do that!?”  
  


The Outsider considered the blade in his hand, swiping it through the air as it shimmered.

“The Eye imparted it’s wisdom on me the moment we transferred into this world as it did when you touched it. It was the Void’s god before me and even in death, it held gifts the Void had given it. I still have a connection to that place, I always will have. When I joined with the Void, I became part of it and even though I have left and am a mortal man, it will always be a part of me. I had my throat slit, my life taken away by force. The Void gave me back my life, healed. It bestowed gifts on me as it did to the ones who came before. I’m glad you gave me the chance to be alive to appreciate them.”  
  


Billie cursed to herself as she fished out the ladle, tapping it on the pot before laying it to the side. She shimmied closer to the Outsider and studied the blade in his hand. It had appeared much like how the Twin Blade appeared in his hands the first time. At least she thought to herself, he wasn’t defenceless.  
  


”What else can you do?”  
  


The Outsider pondered the blade before it shattered and vanished as hers could. Rubbing his hands together he stood up and looked around. He noticed the roof of the shed was open to the sky a bit further away and in an instant vanished in a cloud of black dust before appearing there. Billie craned her neck to see him.  
  
  
"That’s handy.”

  
He reappeared next to her and nodded enthusiastically.  
  


“I can walk between this world and the Void briefly. I can see where I want to be, then appear there. It has it’s limits and I cannot stay in the Void but I’m allowed there for a moment."  
  


“What else?” Billie was now leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees, eager to see what other gifts he had been given.  
  


“I see people’s lives when I look at them. For instance I know you loved Deirdre and avenged her murder. You speak to her every night before you go to sleep and you have no regrets about following Daud across those rooftops, decades ago. But you now feel lost and adrift about your future though you are glad Daud is at peace finally.”  
  


“I….yeah. That’s enough of that one.” she shifted uncomfortably in her seat on the rocky outcrop. The Outsider suddenly bent forward, doubled over in pain. He gripped his head tightly and started to murmur to himself as he panted, his eyes squeezed tightly shut.  
  


“Too many....too much....I can't focus...can't see...”  
  


Billie knelt in front of him putting her hands over his.  
  


“Hey, hey, what is it? What’s the matter?… shit, I think I get it. Focus on my voice kid, try and follow my breaths, in slowly, out slowly...In...out...”  
  


Slowly but surely The Outsider’s breathing became calmer and he looked up at Billie, his eyes swirling between translucent black and his pale green.  
  


“I heard everything at once. Saw everything, My eyes couldn’t focus, my mind started to scream. This will take some getting used to.” He nodded slowly to Billie and she lowered her hands as he continued to breathe slowly, his eyes returning fully to green.  
  


“I tried to see too much, too fast. I need to learn to be more specific.”  
  


“That’s enough for tonight. We need to eat and then rest Kid. You can take the cot, I’ll take the floor.” Billie said as she stood up and made her way to her pack, pulling out a bundle of light blankets and throwing one back at The Outsider, before heading to her pot over the fire and spooning two servings of the stew she had made “It not whale meat if you’re wondering.”  
  


“Thank you Billie. But I’m not a kid. I’m just over 4000 years old. Give or take a decade." The Outsider, took the blanket and made himself comfortable on the cot.  
  


“Huh, you don’t look a day over twenty” Billie joked nervously as she handed a bowl to him.  
  


“Twenty one to be exact. That’s how old I was when my life ended. I was found when I was 15, it took them just over 5 years to prepare me, to make sure I was indeed the right one. I may have this body of a young man, but my mind is ancient. “  
  


The Outsider smirked as he absentmindedly brushed his ring adorned hand down his black jacket, the clothes he'd worn as the Outsider that had become reality along with his healed body. This was not what he had been sacrificed in, a blood soaked robe would not have done to appear to people during the centuries. These were clothes his will had manifested to adorn him during his long slumber. Clothing that would not look out of time or place no matter when.  
  
  
”Well you maybe ancient, you maybe young but as I don’t want to keep saying _The Outsider_ I’m gonna call you kid until you pick a name. Now eat” She said as she swallowed a spoonful of stew and grimaced. There wasn’t much left to work with to make this, it would have to do.  
  


The Outsider nodded. He knew his name now. It would take some getting used to before he said it to anyone else. After all it had been taken from him and it was precious.  
He sniffed the stew and tentatively nibbled on a piece of solid matter that sat in a viscous liquid. Trying to smile at Billie, he swallowed quickly before sipping the broth. That at least tasted half decent.

As they settled down to sleep around the fire, The Outsider stretched out and took hold of Billie’s human hand, squeezing it gently before tucking his own under the blanket.

“I wonder if I will dream?” He whispered, as he settled down into the travel cot. Billie smiled knowingly. The Outsider had been walking through the minds of people for thousands of years. If his own mind still held that knowledge she doubted his rest would be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was never clear how Billie got back into the real world. It looked like a portal was open before her but that didn't make sense to me. I think it was symbolic of her uncertain future.
> 
> The Eye of the Dead god fascinated me. It reminds me clearly of Lovecraftian mythology (and another game - Fallout , that features these stone gods trapped under mountains) Even dead, this god was able to bestow Billie with the ability to truly see the void, to travel in it. That is a powerful ability. It's eye a part of her even. I couldnt see how The Outsider could be truly and completly human after his tenure in the void. It would have rubbed off on his essence and this came up with the idea he would leave with gifts too, abilities that were from his time as a god.


	2. Memory Echoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The former Outsider begins to experience more of his humanity. He and Billie reach her home and make plans on their futures.

* * *

Billie woke to the sound of a strangled scream and threw off her blanket to see The Outsider asleep, shivering under his. She gently gripped his shoulder and rocked it to wake him. His eyes shot open and he looked around everywhere as if not believing he wasn’t awake, before settling them on her.

“I..I was in the Ritual Hold. I saw you drive the knife into my heart. My eyes went blood red and I felt my life leave me just I took my first and last breath. I gasped to you _I see there are no choices left, no choices at all._ Then I collapsed in your arms. I’m glad you didn’t choose that path Billie Lurk.”  
  


Billie’s eye’s welled up, but she shook the tears back and gripped The Outsider’s shoulder a little tighter.

“I’m glad I didn’t too.”

She thought about everything The Outsider had whispered to her each time she had touched a Hollow, echoes of his voice whispering in her ear;

_We carry what was done to us through the rest of our endless days. No one asked if we wanted it… A thousand lives, a thousand choices, all converged on one wounded body, one wounded mind…. These people lay their thoughts, their petty wants, their murderous desires in front of me. I cannot turn away... She has seen me through dark waters. Soon she will see me unobscured._

Each a plea to see past initial judgement, to understand.

Then when Billie did learn what had been done to him, her intention to kill him had long left her even as she vowed to Daud to fulfil his promise, hoping she’d find an alternative option. The idea of driving the knife into this young man, was abhorrent to her now. She smiled through her melancholy at him and looked up at the sun peaking over the horizon.

“If you’re o.k. we need to pack up, suns just about rising and I want to get off this mountain as soon as possible. I suspect you do too.”  
  


The Outsider, nodded, as he ran his hands through his hair and sat up. So that’s what dreams were like, he thought to himself. Sometimes having knowledge of everything up to the point of rebirth meant the darker paths people didn’t choose were there too now as memories.

After packing up camp, It took the pair a good few hours to reach the edge of Cyria Gardens as they headed to Seta Canal where Billie had left her skiff secured. By the time they got close, the sun was high in the sky, it’s glare now beating through the light canopy of trees.

Billie had given The Outsider a scarf to use as a makeshift hood over his sensitive eyes, as they had not seen true sunlight for so long. When he’d first glimpsed the sun, he’d tried to look up towards it, shielding his eyes from it directly, enraptured by it’s warmth and light. Billie had held back, allowing him this opportunity to enjoy the moment before handing him the scarf he now wore.

The scarf also obscured his face as his appearance was a concern to Billie and so they agreed to use their abilities to cover the distance as unseen as possible. She would move first then he would follow until they reached her skiff. Billie wrenched off the tarpaulin covering the boat and started up the motor.  
  


“When the last whale dies, the Void will consume the world. Their life fuels this vessel.”

The Outsider ran a quivering hand over the metal of the engine casing as he climbed aboard.  
  


“We don’t have much choice kid. My safe house is much further down and the lock system will get us there faster. I’m gonna sell this though, soon. I no longer have a ship, I don’t really need it.”

She spoke sadly as she cranked the skiff forward, waving her hand towards one of the huge wind turbines that powered Karnaca.

“The Empress is trying to change things. She’s seriously rationed the oil we have, forced cut backs on whaling itself as well. She saw the huge wind turbines here powering nearly everything. Gristol and Tyvia have powerful tidal winds, terrible sea currents. Morley has rain and wind most of the year. Says she’s going to work with those some how. But you’re right. I saw what they did to them many years ago to get the oil out. It’s wrong.”  
  


The Outsider hummed his agreement and watched the city go by as they moved down Seta canal to their final destination. Billie allowed the Outsider to climb out first before locking up the skiff and pulling her rucksack out. They moved carefully through the district until Billie opened up an abandoned apartment and bowed with a grin to let The Outsider walk across the entrance.  
  
”This belonged to an artist. One who apparently liked you very much. The Overseers came in and took him and they went through this place but Emily said she had cleared it out, so I guess they found nothing. They left it, and then left this city, so I claimed it. No one has come here for fear of it being cursed or something. Which suits me fine. I keep the front door locked most of the time and use the windows to get in.  
  


The Outsider brushed his fingers over the dusty sideboard in the hallway as he slowly walked through the apartment.

“He had a shrine to me here, with a copy of a portrait Sokolov had painted of me next to it. Emily took the runes left on the shrine and I spoke with her just before she went to find The Crown Killer. She took the painting, she still has it, rolled and hidden away in her private quarters now.”

He smiled to himself as he remembered that moment, then walked across the room and opened the balcony shutters to enjoy more of the sunlight he had grown so fond of.  
  


“Huh, has she now.” Billie said to herself, a smirk forming across her face. Emily had been quite open in her reports when she’d come back from a mission, but Billie realised Emily had kept secrets to herself too.

“Listen I think there are some of his clothes still here. Might be wise to see if any fit you so you don’t look so obviously like, you. There is another apartment above with running water, The lady who owns it, I did her a few favours so she lets me use it when she’s out. You could do with a bath…we both could. We’re still covered in mine dust.”  
  
She knew it wasn’t mine dust they were covered in, but it was dust all the same and she wanted it off. She shrugged out of her red jacket, her void arm momentarily vanishing to allow her this, then pulled off her boots and rested back on the sofa.  
  


The Outsider walked back in and went straight to a cupboard where he started to pull out various items of men’s clothing. Billie realised he obviously knew this place very well. He examined a dark blue shirt and some black trousers, holding them to himself and smiling. Then let them rest over the back of the sofa and sat down next to Billie, twisting so he faced her.

“Thank you Billie. I know I’ve said it before, But truly I appreciate this chance you’ve given me. I know you’re worried about what to do next and I have a few ideas. I know people’s secrets. All of them. I can think of some that might make some good money. You wont need to sell that skiff that means so much to you.”  
  
His eyebrows raised as he grinned broadly. “I cant exactly get a normal job, not with this face, not yet anyway. I wished Sokolov hadn’t painted that last portrait. It was a little too accurate.”  
  


It was Billie’s turn to face him now, as she studied his face and offer.

“I’ve seen that portrait, It’s pretty good. Buy yeah, I found plenty of things worth a lot of money hidden away here, but I guess there’s a lot more lying around you know about.”  
  


“Much more.” He said, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “I know Jacob Lanzo across the street stole from his job in the bank. He hid a huge stash of gold and silver bars in a box hidden under the cliff over there. He didn’t need it. He was just a kleptomaniac. He wont need it at all now.”  
  
  
Billie leant over his shoulder to see the apartments across the way were sealed over with ‘warning blood fly infestation’ covers. The city had started properly eradicating the infestations but this part of the district was still to be looked over as it was much closer to the coast and cooler and less likely to develop a worse bug issue than further inland.

  
”Tell me exactly where this box is” she said as she looked back to the Outsider, her face stretched into a wicked grin.  
  


“I’ll show you!” The Outsider replied as he removed his black jacket and grabbed a grey hooded gilet from the cupboard, throwing It on and grinning as he lifted the hood over his head.

\-------------------

Billie couldn’t believe her eyes when she stared at the haul laid now across the bed. Twenty six gold bars and more than forty silver ones, plus more coins than she could count. It had taken both of them their rather arcane strength to bring them all back to the apartment in two very heavy bags. On the way back they had walked down an alley and graffitied across the wall in half attempted removal were the words ‘The Outsider walks amongst us’. The former Outsider paused and began to laugh, holding his hand over his mouth to muffle it. When Billie had asked why he was laughing, he just pointed at the words and said ‘ literally now.’ before bursting into laughter again.

The sound of his laughter had made Billie smile so much, it was the best sound she had heard in a long time. It was infectious and both of them hadn’t really stopped even when they got back to the apartment. Billie had let the Outsider have a bath first, after all when was the last time he'd actually had one, it was time he enjoyed it. He'd told her after, it was an unusual experience to sit in clear hot water after seeing nothing but black oceans for so long. After She'd had had what was left of the hot water and leaving a generous donation on her neighbour's sideboard as she took some bread and fruit from her kitchen, they settled down on the sofa to discuss their next options.

Billie sat forward then and rubbed her face, thinking.

“The Overseers are gone from the city, They fled after I ransacked their operation in the Royal Conservatory. Said this city was cursed, but they cursed themselves. Anyway, the few people who would definitely recognise you, are gone. Sure there are probably some of the crazy kind who you may have spoken to but I was thinking. Maybe we should go out, stretch our legs properly. I know you probably don’t want to be cooped up here and I want to head to the market to pick up some fresh fruit and maybe some fish. What I gave you back at that camp wasn’t my best but I do a great grilled platefish I swear.”  
  


The Outsider smiled at her and nodded enthusiastically. He wanted to see, to feel the world, to hear people’s voices properly and just listen to them talk. They could be careful, he’d keep his hood up and wear different clothing, she would look out for any parties that were paying too much attention and between them it should work.  
  


So after arguing who would take the bed and who the sofa and then both realising it was perfectly fine to share it, they awoke the next day with plans to visit the nearby street market and just spend the day wandering. The Outsider had told Billie to call him Sy for short for now until he had decided on a name, still unsure in himself as to reveal his own true name yet.

“Sy, are you ready yet?” Billie yelled from the window as she tapped the frame with her void stone fingers. Her arm mostly wrapped up to disguise it’s appearance and her eye now covered with a large patch. He jogged around the corner wearing the clean blue shirt, black trousers and grey hooded gilet he’d dug up with his normal boots. His hair was a little messed up but that helped change his appearance a little.  
  


“How do I look?” Sy said as he slowly turned around,  
  


“Like a typical Karnacan, but one that hasn’t seen the sun in years” Billie replied as she bit her lip.  
  


They both moved down into the nearby alley way and then began their perfectly normal stroll towards the market.  
  


“This building once held a man who tried to summon me,” Sy mentioned quietly as they went past a now boarded up office “He bred 20 white rats in the basement in an effort to appease me. They ate him.”

He grinned at Billie who looked appalled and amused at his latest tale.

“And up there a dentist tried to save two bloodfly fever infected patients. Sadly it didn’t work. But Emily utilised the chloroform there to great effect on the Overseer outpost nearby.” He beamed as he said her name and it didn’t go unnoticed by Billie who smirked and linked her arm under his as they reached the market.  
  


“What kind of fruit would you like? There is a stall over there that somehow manages to get the best and I have a real craving for Morley pears.”  
  


Sy looked over the stall and waved his hands over it “two of each please” before handing over the coin. He then made his way to one of the stalls tucked into the rail carriage underpass, whilst Billie picked out some platefish steaks, and was looking over the antique objects when he felt eyes staring at him. He glanced to his side to see a young well dressed woman, staring intently at him. He instantly knew who she was. Tania Carvelo, a new money businesswoman who thanked her wealth on the worship of the Outsider, worship that involved nothing more than talking to her shrine for hours about her day and growing banned flowers and herbs and using them for healing rituals for her staff. As witches went she was kind. He had never shown himself to her but somehow she knew who he was. He focused on her then as she tentatively got closer to him.

“It’s you isn’t it.” she said in a quietest of whispers “I have a copy of your portrait at my shrine. You're not dressed how i'd expect, but I'd know that face anywhere.”  
  


Si glanced up to spy Billie carefully stalking closer and he shook his head ever so slightly towards her making her slow down. Then he looked back down to Tania and gently took her hand, leading her underneath the underpass. His eyes washed over black and she gasped as she became utterly enthralled in his gaze.

“Tania you are the kind of follower, The Outsider would be proud to have. Never change. But I cannot let you know me. You will forget ever seeing me here and continue to care for your staff as you have been, knowing the Outsider is pleased with you. “

  
He dropped her hand and she remained frozen to the spot, in a daze. Billie came up behind him and looked at the woman then, her eye slightly glowing under the patch.

“Did you do that? She seems to be in a trance.” she waved her hand in front of the woman’s face and it didn’t flinch.  
  


“Yes, it seems I am able to obscure their minds, make them forget they ever saw me. A useful gift considering, though my head hurts a little, behind the eyes. I’m sure I’ll get better at it with time. Let’s go, before she comes to. I don’t want to do it to her again so soon.”  
  


They quickly left the underpass and made their way across the nearby bridge, where Sy paused to look back as Tania came too, shaking her head and carrying on her day. He smiled, pulling his hood that little bit further over his head and pointing towards a boarded off building across the street.

“Though that building has a blood fly infestation, it has been cleared out by Emily. Beyond it is where the blackmarket shop used to be. The owner left in a hurry and there are still lots of things in the sealed safe there. The code is 318.”  
  


Billie laughed, putting her arm around his and heading in the direction he pointed.

“You are handy to have around.”

  
As they entered the abandoned building, they didn’t notice the figure watching from a shadowy ledge nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit more of the former Outsider's humanity is showing again. He always showed a sense of humour as the god, but it was dry and sarcastic to fit his lack of obvious empathy. I want the human outsider to have a more wicked sense of humour, a more absurd ' you wouldn't believe what I've seen' kind of humour. 
> 
> I also wanted to shine a light on the devotees of the Outsider who weren't nut cases, who didn't do evil things. Poor Amadeo Monte for instance. At least he got a burial from Mindy.
> 
> Sokolov is a damn good artist. For someone who never saw The Outsider, he sure got a good likeness!
> 
> Been reading the Wyrmwood Deceit and Veiled Terror and was worried it would mess with what i had planned out with Billie. But as the VT is set a year after DOTO i think i can work around it .
> 
> 'literally now' joke inspired by this art - https://khoolat.tumblr.com/post/166160866312/post-doto-theyre-gonna-be-best-friends-in-the


	3. A Secret No More.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The former Outsider meets an old friend and decides on his future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay. Had to rewrite some stuff of this chapter to work with what i had read of the official novels The Wyrmwood Deceit and the Veiled Terror!

* * *

For over four months Billie Lurk stayed in the company of the former Outsider, now going by the nickname Sy. They had watched as Karnaca began to recover from Duke Abele’s reign and neither Billie nor Sy were surprised when Corvo Attano appeared as the new Duke. He had been in charge two months now and the city was doing well under him and his council’s care. Neither had seen him as he seemed focused on improvement works until a week back where Sy had watched him walking around the docks surveying repair work on many of the buildings there.

Since that day, Sy had begun to close in on himself, spending more and more time indoors or staring out at the sea from the balcony door, lost to his own thoughts. Billie had never been very good at getting people to open up to her and Sy was a former god who was very good at keeping things to himself. So she spent many an evening by herself, out on the rooftops, wondering what was going on. After one of these evenings, she came in through the balcony door as she did out of habit, even though the locals had gotten used to seeing her and the young man she shared her home with. 

Sitting on the sofa, Sy was wearing his Void garments as he had briefly said to her he felt more comfortable in them and had his long legs folded under him, whilst reading a book called Spirit of The Deep. He glanced up over the book edge at Billie as she awkwardly stood in front of him.   
  


“Another devotee of mine wrote this long ago. I was interested in his sculptures at first as they held a depth and meaning beyond their outward appearance, I appeared to him twice in dreams to converse with him about them but it soon became obvious what kind of follower he would become and I abandoned him as I was want to do. He ended up dead like so many, washed up on the shore, his memoirs found months later, and turned into this book which in turn was banned by the Abbey. His few sculptures are some of the most sought after in secret auctions across the Isles now, they hold arcane messages few will ever understand.” He closed the book and sighed as he leant back and closed his eyes.   
  


Billie could see something was wrong. He looked frustrated. Not surprising really. He was the former god of the Void who knew everything, yet was stuck here. She had tried to keep him occupied, training with him on how to use his sword of which he was a quick learner, often surpassing her in reflexes and speed. She had also helped him hone his mental abilities, spending days simply watching people go by as he would recall facts about them, leading to his headaches mostly disappearing. But he was trapped here in her quiet life. One she had developed from years of keeping out of the spotlight. 

She sat down next to him and placed her hand on his knee. He smiled at her, though it was strained as if he knew something she didn’t, something in her future he knew he couldn’t tell her, a future she would have to work on by herself. She glanced to the floor, unsure how to break the silence that had descended between them. 

“Sy, what do you want to do? Do you want to leave? Travel? I could arrange something. You don’t have to stay here with me if you want to leave, I’d understand. ” 

Before he could answer there was a blur of black smoke and a figure appeared just inside their open balcony door. Billie shot up, her twin blade appearing in an instant as she crouched in front of Sy who simply looked in the direction of the figure and sighed.   
  


“Hello dear Corvo,” he said casually.  


Billie tilted her head back slightly and then looked as Duke Corvo Attano came into the light of the room, his face a confused puzzle as he stared at the young man sitting behind her.   
  


“By the Void” was all he could mutter as he stepped forward to be stopped by Billie pointing her sword at his throat.   
  


“Stop right there.” she growled before Sy placed his hand on her shoulder and gently shook his head. He unfolded his legs and stood up, then walked to stand infront of Corvo and smiled.   
  


“Duke Corvo Attano, the title suits you. I knew you would find me. You’ve had your little wolves watching us for a while now. I’m sure they have been reporting about two strange magic users in Karnaca and you wanted to personally make sure they wouldn’t cause trouble.”  
  


Corvo stood silent, simply looking Sy up and down, his head tilting from one side to the other as his mind tried to comprehend what he was seeing and hearing. Billie relaxed somewhat and moved to lean back against the wall, her hand loosely hanging in case she needed to summon the blade again. Corvo lifted his own hand then and touched Sy’s arm, holding it for a moment.   
  


“Either I’m hallucinating or The Outsider is standing in front of me and is human.” he said, almost in a whisper as if not believing what he was saying. 

“I’m real, very much alive and the whales missed you old friend.”   
  


Corvo face cracked into a smirk before he started laughing “How is this possible?”   
  


Sy led him to the sofa to sit down “It’s a long story. Short of it is Billie here released me from the Void and I’ve been in her pleasant company since.” 

Corvo’s turned to Billie “Emily told me much about how you helped her, you have my heartfelt thanks. I'll ignore what you did those many years ago.” Billie nodded as his attention went back to Sy. 

“You don’t look any different apart from your eyes and you’re maybe a little less pale. But how can a god of the Void be released? There is more to this story than you’re saying.”  


Sy sighed and leant back on the sofa, tucking his legs under him once more.   
  


“She was asked by a dying Daud to kill me Corvo, his last request. She found the knife that had made me a god and found a way to enter the Void itself. She found the ritual place where I was sacrificed and kept. But then she found a secret. My name. My name that is on your hand Corvo. She asked Daud who was now a trapped spirit to say that name, to give it back to me and that released me, returned me to life and released him from his torment. She’s been my companion since, helping me adjust to mortal life.”   
  


Corvo lifted his left hand and showed Sy the Mark. It’s shape blurry as if the design had bled somewhat.   
  


“This happened about four months ago. I felt the mark flare up as if you would suddenly appear but when I looked down it started to change. Emily has told me hers looks the same. Four months, it’s when this all happened isn’t it?”   
  


Sy clasped Corvo’s hand in his and studied the Mark. His name reflected back at him but fading away. He closed his eyes a moment before opening them once more, the pale green orbs glistening with unshed tears.  
  


“When Daud spoke my name to me, woke me from my long sleep, I remembered it. I still do. I’ve been saying it to myself for months now, hiding it away. But I think it’s time. Time I accept it as my own once more.” He paused, taking in a deep breath and calming his heart, 

“Billie, Corvo. My name is Tyr Saan Ehv. The Mark forms the three parts of my name. Tyr is the large central symbol. The other two are Saan and Ehv . Together it means Tyr of the Ehv (people). Unlike now, my people didn’t have surnames. We were connected to what ever clan we were part of. I came from a group of people who had travelled the oceans from Tyvia so long ago. They settled in Pandyssia as they searched for a connection to their god, the Void itself. They found a place where it came through and built their colony there. Building temples and a city in black stone around it. I was born there and after my mother died at the hands of my father, I was left to fend for myself on the streets until the cultists found me, brought me to what is Karnaca now and in turn made me their god. They took my name and made me the Outsider to everything. Now I have it back and it’s mine. 

Billie walked over and knelt down in front of him, taking his hands in her own.

“Tyr, I like the sound of that. It’s better than what I’ve been called you these past months.” 

Corvo pondered the story before quickly shaking his hand and blowing on it, staring at the Mark. It was as crisp as the day he received it, though the centre symbol stood out, with the other two lighter to bring the centre into focus more. He looked up at Tyr who grinned as Corvo stared as his remade Mark. 

“You are not it’s god, but I still have all my abilities somehow. This Mark has always worked as has Emily’s no matter what it looked like.”   
  


Tyr smiled knowingly at Billie before vanishing from the sofa to stand next to her, to Corvo’s shock.  


“Even though I’ve left the Void, Corvo, it’s still part of me and always will be. Thus any connections to the Void I gave people, they also still have. There are only five with my Mark now in this world. You, Emily, and the others, you will probably never meet.”  
  


He smiled again at her name, causing Billie to gently nudge him. Which didn’t go unnoticed by Corvo, who stood now to look at this man before him that until recently was an all powerful, and he thought untouchable god. A god who had allowed him to walk in the Void, to experience his daughter’s fight to reclaim her throne. One who had guided her, cared for her in his own way and now stood in a small apartment in Karnaca and looked very human and vulnerable.  
  


“So you’re in the world for real now, you’ve been here four months, without telling anyone. Anyone at all. Isn’t there somewhere you’d rather be?” He said with a knowing look. Tyr blushed and started to pace the room, twisting the silver and obsidian ring on his finger.   
  


“There is, but so much has happened and the empire is recovering. I would have been a distraction, it would have been wrong for me to suddenly turn up at Dunwall Tower and expect her to drop everything for me. Plus I needed to become comfortable in my own skin again. Emily knows in part about what was about to happen to me all those months back. I appeared to her right before Billie entered the Ritual Hold. I told her as a god, my humanity was repressed by the Void in order to dwell in it, that I could not feel for her the way she felt for me. But then I told her I hoped to see her again with new eyes.” 

Billie let out a soft gasp, knowing what rode on her decision, she was glad she had finally made a good choice.  
  


Corvo stood, impassive, the only sign of his concentration, his teeth worrying his bottom lip. He slowly walked to the balcony, staring out at the night vista ahead and the ocean beyond. Billie and Tyr looked at each other with concern, would Corvo forbid this now? Tell him his daughter doesn’t need this kind of distraction, this entanglement. 

Corvo turned to face them both, a resigned smirk spread over his face.

“Alright, I’ll help you get to Dunwall. If only to see my daughter’s face when I introduce you.” then he looked up and down at Tyr, “And we have to get you some new clothes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Corvo’s adopting the former god of the Void. I never got any animosity from Corvo towards the Outsider. Any gruffness was to me a lot like a father figure would speak about their errant son. Corvo has lost so much of his family. His sister, parents, his beloved. He had the false nephew plot thrown at him too. All he has is Emily and now he is living far away from her. He has suffered too much and I want him to be happy- a future fic perhaps ;) 
> 
> Billie behaves more like a big sister (or little sister) I feel she just needed friendship and no judgement which is what Tyr gave her. Again having read the stories Wyrmwood Deceit and Veiled Terror it made me think about Billie’s future path. As the second story is set over a year after the events of DOTO i think i can work mine around it, maybe slightly altered.
> 
> For the Outsider's name i really wanted it to fit the narrative described in DOTO.  
> Tyr Saan Ehv is pronounced - 'Teeur , Sa'aan Eh-Vee'. The surname said In a very fluid way.  
> Each part of the mark is phonetic symbols of his name. I based it on what was written about the ancient language using phonetics to describe things with the diphthongs Malchiodi said the language had. The name actually came to me in a dream...crazy i know but i woke up with it in my head and had to write it down straight away.  
> It made me think of Ancient egyptian or summerian where symbols meant entire words and the way they were translated often missed out vital vowels which would be imagined to make them sound correct. People thousands of years back didn’t have surnames, they had descriptions of where they hailed from or what clans they belonged to. He goes by Tyr as i'd think there are people with that name still in Tyvia, so not too unusual though it is an old name (also name of Scandinavian Norse god so a real name at some point).  
> I imagined the Ehv people were tribal and sea faring ( think vikings) Some of them worshipped the Void and decided to travel the ocean to find a special place, following the migrant paths of whales. The Void called them and they set up a colony in Pandyssia where it was strong, before some split and found the focal point in the place where Karnaca is now and created the Envisioned cult. That's how he wasn’t born in what is Tyvia now. Back in the homeland the people disappeared as a unique culture integrating into a larger society. The colony in Pandyssia suffered from war with other cultures there and eventually the colony was destroyed with survivors joining those cultures instead and the language was lost as their temples crumbled to ruin. Hence the language unknown to anyone except the dead and Malchiodi.
> 
> I know the name Levi is popular amongst writers as his new name, a clever play on Leviathan. But for me, it is too biblical a name and i didn't want to associate him with anything biblical. Sy was a nickname i chose as it was one of the syllables of the Out-SI-der.
> 
> The Outsider comment on number of marked to Daud - "Did you know that there are only eight like you in the world, bearing my Mark?" Which to mean sounds like at the time of telling Daud. which means there have been others before this time and possibly more after. That there are 7 known marked In the game's time frame,  
> Granny rags was killed before T.O appeared to Daud and told him, i think, so that’s one down, now Daud's gone too. There is a dark skinned woman referred to as marked on her back, but no name ever given, so that wasn't Delilah and she's gone too. I can imagine The Outsider having influence outside the Isles. After all there HAS to be more landmass than just the Isles and Pandyssia!


	4. The uncertainty of feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyr Prepares to leave Karnaca and worries about his new reality.

* * *

Tyr and Billie were the guests of Duke Attano for over a week. Living in guest quarters within the refurbished Grand Palace. Corvo had been busy, getting the flooded basement repaired and changing the decor to be less pretentious and more welcoming, especially changing his private chambers from the ridiculous decor Luca liked. Both Tyr and Billie noticed how well Corvo was settling in to his new role, seemingly very comfortable living back in his homeland and the people seemed to like him. His appearance hadn’t changed much, though he refused to wear the traditional garish white military uniform the Abele line had sported, instead keeping to his favourite deep blue tailored garb.

Today as he led Tyr and Billie to the royal tailors, he wore a fitted royal blue jacket with gold accents and Duke's badge of office. Always wearing a copy of his sword at his side, a gift from Anton at his Appointment as he’d given his original to Emily. At his back a voltaic gun, a wise precaution as he had had a couple of attempts on his life by associates of the former duke, though only one ever got close, their face frozen in shock as a swarm of rats appeared between them and their target. The Howlers, now known to many as The Wolfpack in conjunction with master Lupo, Corvo’s own personal adviser, were a specialist group who took out any threat to Corvo or the Serkonian people before they even got near to causing trouble. Their reputation amongst the people vastly improved and a welcome help. Between them, Karnaca and Serkonos in general was recovering fast.

Corvo's most prized possession, his mask, he kept in a locked room in his private chambers, in a glass case. A reminder of what it took to survive and the hope he would never need to wear it again.

\--------------------

“Why are you doing this Corvo?” Tyr asked as he and Billie followed Corvo towards the Royal tailors in the artisan’s workshops set up by him for local specialists to trade their crafts to the wealthy who visited the palace.

“If you are going to meet Emily, you’ll need to look like the noble I’ll be making you out to be. Even if you don’t talk to a single one of them, first impressions count amongst the Dunwall court, especially if you are a foreigner. Trust me I know.” Corvo scowled as he opened the door to the lavish workshop. “Billie has accepted the offer, so you have no excuse.”

Inside were rows upon rows of bolts of luxurious fabrics and trims. Tyr ran his fingers over them feeling each carefully, his senses alight with the sensations, only ever having felt the whisper soft material created by the Void for him and the rough cottons of the artist’s clothes. He was drawn to the dull blues, black and grey fabrics and picked out a few silks, some kid soft leather and suede skins and a soft, dense twill, then stood awkwardly whilst being measured by two master tailors. Billie was more direct, pulling red and black bolts off their racks and directing the seamstresses in exactly what she wanted after handing them a detailed list of her measurements.

They were then all sent away with the promise outfits would be made for them in four days.

Next Tyr was brought to the salon as his hair had grown to a misshapen mess.

“Honestly I have no idea what to do with it!” Admitted Tyr. “Billie tried to help me but I just want it back to as it was and before you say anything I can shave. You’ll notice I don’t have a beard.”

Corvo smirked. The thought of The Outsider with a beard was an interesting image.

“You’ll get the full treatment. If I have to suffer it, so do you. Though they know not to come near me with a razor.”  
  


Tyr had to admit he did enjoy the pampering, as expert hands massaged across his scalp and his hair was washed and prepared and when he looked in the mirror at the end result, he was pleased. It had helped that the hairdresser was a devotee of The Outsider who simply smiled knowingly at this young man who wanted to look so much like his god.

Tyr shook his hand as he got up, gripping it as he stared with his darkened eyes into the hairdresser’s ones “There is no need to cut yourself on your shrine. It will not summon him. Know he is pleased with how you and your husband live your lives and do not do anything to risk that.”

The hairdresser nodded slowly before returning to his chair as if in a daze.

Tyr left the salon to find Corvo outside talking to one of his aides, who glanced at Tyr then bowed to Corvo and left with a note in his hand. Corvo appraised Tyr’s look and smirked,

“You know, trying a different look might be better for you, but it’s up to you.”  
  


Tyr smoothed his hand over his hair by his ear and scowled.

“I had 4000 years to perfect how I wanted to appear Corvo. I like this just fine.”  
  


They returned to the palace and Billie greeted them in the main hall as she chatted to one of the servants after returning on her own. She only really associated with the staff over any visiting dignitaries, preferring their company to high born nobility.

“Look at you kid. sorry, Tyr. You scrub up good.” she laughed as she patted his shoulder. Corvo beckoned them to follow him to his office and sat them down as he leant on his desk.

“I’ve arranged passage on the ISS Jessamine to take us to Dunwall, it should arrive here in five days from Morley. I’ve sent word to The Captain of the Guard, a woman I know well, to expect us but to keep it a surprise from my daughter. One of the few perks I have is being allowed to surprise the Empress.” he smirked as he held out papers for the both of them.

“This is the itinerary and your state papers. You’ll be my official guests so people wont ask any questions and you don’t need to explain who you are, just hand them this letter from me if they ask. You are officially on a special mission. That should keep your privacy intact. The ship is the fastest in the fleet and we’ll get to Dunwall in around three days. So sort out what you have to and be ready to leave when the ship arrives. Are there any questions?”

Tyr looked to Billie who shrugged, Billie had few personal possessions back at the apartment which could be easily collected and Tyr had nothing except what he already carried with him. They were ready to go when ever.

“Alright then. It seems I’ll soon be seeing my daughter again. Huh. She thought she’d just gotten rid of me as well.” Corvo said with mirthful glance to Tyr.

\------------------------

The days passed quickly with Tyr becoming more and more agitated as the days went on. Tomorrow would be the day they’d set sail. He’d been so sure of himself as The Outsider, knowing exactly what would happen and how it would happen. Every eventuality already foreseen and expected. But now this was new. What if Emily had moved on? What if she’d taken back that Wyman, or she’d been forced by her council to announce a suitor. He paced his quarters in the Royal Palace, rolling his silver and obsidian ring around his middle finger. The one ring he could not and did not want to remove from his left hand.

He left the bathroom after washing and removing the little kohl he now liked to sport around his eyes, a suggestion by Billie after she’d learnt it was a trend in Tyvia for the young men and women there. Tyr had joked that fashion often came back around, being that it was fashionable when he was alive the first time.

He looked in the mirror at his clean reflection, something he was slowly getting used to seeing again. He always knew what he looked like, but seeing his pale green eyes look back at him instead of the solid black ones he had for 4000 years still unsettled him. What if Emily didn’t like them? She’d always said his black eyes were beautiful, that they didn’t frighten her like they did other people.

If only she could remember her childhood dreams where he had appeared to her. She had screamed the first time he’d manifested, only putting on an air of bravery later and eventually enjoying his company, dancing around and tugging at his hovering feet when he didn’t reply to her straight away. This young child had fascinated him, so confidant, yet so vulnerable. She reminded him of himself as a boy. Thus he had quietly taken her under his protection. He had shown her images of great sea monsters she could only before imagine, of lands that lay far beyond her known world. Anything to take her mind off what was happening in the real world. She called them scary dreams, but every night she sought him out in the Void. The only person who actively could travel there in dreams, everyone else being brought there by him. Some cultures called it lucid dreaming. She had lost that ability as she grew up as her mind was focused on more adult things like running an empire. But she never lost that interest in the Void and it’s god.

But what was he now? A void touched, mortal man with nothing to his name but what he carried on him, with an identity of a culture long since extinct, a name that no one would know or understand and a knowledge of everything and everyone that could be a weapon he could use or be used against him. He dug under his shirt and pulled out the pendant he wore around his neck. Secured to a silver chain was a shard of glistening voidrite, a piece of the Void itself, with silver wire wrapped artfully around it. He’d worn it even as the Outsider, though it was always hidden. It had been put around his neck the day of his sacrifice by one of the kinder cultists, before he’d been led to the alter. He knew later that it had been given to him as he’d passed the last of their tests. He could not be harmed or affected by the Voidrite, like the Envisioned themselves. He was perfectly attuned to the Void. Thus this pendant was given to him as a symbol of that and he’d become fond of it even with it’s history. It was one of the few things that was truly his. It hummed ever so slightly like a bonecharm, though so quietly only the wearer could hear it and it comforted him. As much as he was happy to be free from his bondage, he did miss the calm chaos of the Void and the certainty that came with what he once was. But that was then and this was now, he had a future to prepare for. He looked over the pedant’s worn form and tucked it back under his shirt when he heard a knock on his door.

When he opened it, a servant entered, wheeling a large trolley of hanging garments. His order from the tailors finally arrived. The servant smiled and left, and he wandered over to examine the garments. There were more items than he’d thought and noticed other fabrics had been added to what he’d chosen, though he couldn’t fault the tailor’s choices as they were all in the colours he preferred and they looked perfect. Along the bottom were a few pairs of new boots, all black with various silver trims. From simply seeing him once, these artists had worked out his tastes perfectly.

The servant knocked again and when he let them in they carried in some large luggage pieces.

“Duke Attano thought you would require these to transport your belongings.” they said before excusing themselves once more.  
  


Tyr smiled down at the gifts, He couldn’t believe his luck. He could have been cast into the world and abandoned, ignored for being what he once was. Or worse yet hunted down and killed for it. But here he was in a royal palace, tended to by someone he thought of as a friend. It seemed Corvo felt the same or he wouldn’t be helping him now surely.

Another knock on the door and Tyr opened it to see Corvo standing there now. The duke leaned to peer over Tyr’s shoulder and nodded to himself.

“Ah I see they’ve all arrived. Good, good.”  
  


“Thank you Corvo. These are generous gifts. I’m still not sure why you are doing this, but I appreciate them.” Tyr replied, twisting the metal band around his finger with his thumb.  
  


Corvo sighed and walked into Tyr’s suite, sitting down on the large couch by the fireplace. Tyr closed the door and followed, sitting next to him, pouring them both glasses of Tyvian brandy he’d grown fond of. Corvo took the glass and sipped it before placing it back on the table.

“Tyr, when you were The Outsider, you allowed me to travel the Void and see things not many have seen, kept me in the loop on what Emily was doing and see her grow in such strength and dedication. She told me how you guided her, advised her. I’ve never seen her talk about anyone like she talked about you. You also gave me the opportunity to not be trapped in stone. Knowing now what you’ve told me, I’m grateful. I’m glad you felt I shouldn’t be trapped like you were.”  
  


Tyr glanced down as he nursed his brandy. It was true. He’d appeared in the throne room not long after Emily had fled, had walked up to the petrified form of Corvo and touched his stone cheek. Some part of him had felt empathy and he’d brought Corvo’s spirit into the Void to protect it.

“You were one of the few of my Marked who’d shown restraint and thoughtfulness with it’s power. I wasn’t going to let another be trapped in their own mind, screaming to be let out.”  
  


Corvo put his hand on Tyr’s shoulder and squeezed. Tyr looked so lost and frankly human in this moment. He would carry the memories of what he went through like scars on his spirit, much like Corvo did, though many of his scars were external too.

“Anyway, what I’ve given you is a thank you for that. So…tomorrow we set sail for Dunwall. Do you have any idea what you are going to tell my daughter?”  
  


Tyr’s face shot up and looked at the man next to him with concern. Emily’s father, Duke Corvo Attano, was now asking him what he planned to do.

“I hadn’t really thought it through to be honest. Or maybe I’ve thought too much about it and now my mind is a tangled web of suggestions and possibilities. It’s more likely the latter.” He said peering back down at his glass, before taking a mouthful of brandy and swallowing it.  
  


“Ah don’t let an old man worry you. Just be you. For some reason that’s what she likes.“ Corvo said with a smirk as he sipped his brandy. “You haven’t changed much, a little less cryptic and little more grounded but you’re still you. Now, I’d best be signing off the last of the papers for my absence to Aramis and Lupo and then get some sleep. I suggest you do too. I saw Billie earlier and she told me to tell you _hope you have pleasant dreams_ , what ever that means.”

Tyr smiled warmly as Corvo stood up and patted him on the shoulder, then excused himself and left the room. Yes his dreams of late had been more about his worries of his future than visions of the past, but talking to Corvo had settled some of his nerves. He hoped he would have happier dreams tonight, if the Void let him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tyr’s ring that he cant remove is like the Mark, it’s his direct line to the Void and it’s gifts. The voidrite/voidstone pendant is more a personal thing, something he’s carried for so long. In my search for a description of Voidrite I came across a crystal called Black Kyanite, which looks exactly like how I’d picture void crystals growing. I found a pendant (which I may have bought in real life) which is pictured here. THIS Is his pendant. (which came from CrystalAnatomy on Etsy)  
> 
> 
> Black kyanite’s crystal properties also seem to echo the void, it aids in the manifestation of vision and clairvoyance. It can also heal and sweep away negative damage, both physical and spiritual. But in terms to name of my previous story, obsidian sounds better than Kyanite and some voidstone definitely looks more like volcanic glass. Really Voidstone is a mix of Obsidian, Kyanite and Slate in it’s appearance. Obsidian just sounds the best.
> 
> I simply cannot picture Tyr in anything brightly coloured. The man is a goth. As a goth myself I cant bring myself to wear anything other than black, grey and sometimes dark purple or red in every day life. The Outsider wore greyish brown in the first game but that was I think the game developers nod to steampunk and I’m glad they got rid of that in the second game, giving him the sleeker black and bluish grey colour scheme and general over all makeover.
> 
> \- I know it was Piero who made Corvo’s sword, but Anton and he became friends so I think could have shared blueprints to appraise each other’s work. I don’t find it hard to think of Anton looking at the sword and instantly making a copy.


	5. The Voyage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyr and Billie Join Corvo on their voyage across the seas to Dunwall to visit the Empress.

* * *

The ISS Jessamine sat proudly off the coast, close to the Royal Palace, as large boats ferried Corvo’s entourage to it. Tyr looked up as their skiff came along side her hull. He had watched this ship being designed and built, had seen Emily proudly name her, watched the captain quickly have her leave Dunwall at the first sign of trouble and keep the ship docked far away until news of Emily’s return had come to his ear, saving the ship from destruction and it’s crew from certain slaughter at the hands of the bitter Delilah. She was a mighty vessel, though he grimaced as he smelt the whale oil smoke from her large central chimney. She could move on sails if need be but her speed was built around her efficient engine and great water turbine.

Huge crowds had gathered on the seafront to see her and watch their new Duke depart for a visit to his daughter, the Empress. They had quickly developed a great respect for him. He had been firm but fair, kind to his people and ruthless to their enemies. Now he had declared that important business meant he was needed in Dunwall again for a while and that Aramis Stilton would lead his council in any important matters.

Billie offered her hand to Tyr, which he accepted and climbed from the boat onto the polished deck of the ship. They were directed by waiting staff to their respective cabins, or more aptly state apartments. Their rooms below Duke Attano’s own, the royal suite.

Billie whistled loudly as she walked around her rooms, at the polished brass fittings, deeply piled rugs and ornately carved balcony doors all created by the finest artisans the Isles had to offer. A statement to their craft and a shining example of the best the Isles had to offer. Tyr hadn’t reacted the same to his rooms, being as he’d seen it all before, but he smiled as he sat on a sofa in her suite whilst she explored.

“This is way better than the Dreadful wale” she grinned. “Though no where near as cosy.”

She dropped down next to Tyr and patted his shoulder,

“You ready Tyr? Three days and we’ll be in Dunwall. You’ll be seeing your empress soon.”

Tyr worried the ring on his hand, before rubbing his finger under his nose.

“I dislike being so unsure of things. I always knew every eventuality, but now there are so many thoughts in my mind of what could happen and none of them are pleasant.”

“Hey, hey! Emily had this look on her face after every time she said she’d seen and spoken with you. I knew that look. It was the same one I looked at Deidre with. She loves you, It’s obvious. I didn’t get it then, but I get it now, you’re damn handsome, if a little thin for my tastes. So you get those bad thoughts out of your head. They’ll do you no good.”

Tyr sheepishly smiled and squeezed Billie’s hand.

“I’m sorry Deidre is gone. She passed through the Void peacefully, her only regret was that she would never see you again. She loved you deeply, but wanted you to find peace.”

Billie inhaled a sharp breath. To hear her love wanted this from her and she’d gone on to be a vengeful assassin made her almost weep. It had been decades since that fateful day and only now did she feel like she’d moved on from her dark path. Thanks to the former god in by her side.

“Thanks Tyr, I appreciate that. I truly do. Now, how about we take a good wander round this place to clear both our heads? You can, I’m sure point out things the crew wont tell us. Then we’ll find Corvo, or he’ll most likely find us.” she said pulling him out of the chair and threading her arm around his.

They spent the next few hours exploring the ship, watching as it left Karnaca Bay and headed into open water, before Corvo indeed found them and they dined in his private cabin. The ship took the western route around Serkonos and the currents were in her favour the whole way, easing her journey towards the great Isle of Gristol and it’s capitol, Dunwall.

For the next two days, the three of them spent their free time watching the ocean and coastline, catching sight of the vast fields of vines that Saggunto was famous for, then the terraced cliffs of Bastillian and it’s orchards of pears and figs. They spotted a few whales on their journey too, following the great ship at a distance but with interest, disappearing though any time another ship came close. Billie had watched Tyr’s face closely each time, his eye’s going dark just before the whales vanished.

“Nice one.” she had whispered in his ear, as he blinked innocently at her.

\---------------------------

It was a bright late morning when they had sailed past the BloodOx’s Horn, a noticeable landmark of Dunwall’s coastline and Corvo called Billie and Tyr to his cabin.

“We’ll be arriving at Tower Docks in about a hour according to the captain. Our luggage will be loaded onto a waiting carriage provided by the guard captain and we’ll head directly to the tower. I’ve been told Emily knows I’m coming, she is too smart for her own good that one. But she doesn’t know the guests I bring only that I am bringing some with me. I guess she does still want to be surprised. You’d best both get ready and I’ll see you on the deck in an hour.”

Tyr waved to Billie as she entered her suite and he closed his door behind him, walking to his wardrobe and looking at the contents. Picking out a long black asymmetrical hooded wool jacket with kid leather sleeves, piped dull silver piping and ornate onyx and silver buttons, a light grey silk shirt and a dark grey pair of trousers, plus his new polished black leather boots. He quickly dressed, tucking his pendant under his shirt and walked to the bathroom, where he tight lined and smudged his eyes as he’d grown fond of. The kohl helped with the sunlight sensitivity and he thought it made his green eyes brighter. He combed his hair and stood back appraising himself. He’d finally accepted his appearance and had to agree, it wasn’t too bad. His body had kept it’s toned form from the moment he’d been trapped in the Void, years of conditioning by the cult to prepare him had honed his muscles into a lean yet strong form. He’d thought himself lanky as a youth but had grown into his body by the age of twenty. Feeling as ready as he could be, he wandered over to the near by sofa and sat back down on it, unsure what to do next but wait.

Soon, there was a knock on the door and Billie asked if she could come in. Tyr called for her to enter and she sauntered in, mockingly twirling around.

“What do you think? Do I look suitable to walk amongst the high born?” she cackled, though Tyr could tell she liked how she looked. A knee length half open, red fitted leather coat covered her torso and her lower half was bedecked in fitted black trousers tucked into polished black boots. The jacket’s arms were buttoned from her elbow to wrist, a design feature that would allow her to remove the lower sleeve on one arm if she wished to expose her Void arm, though she had it fully buttoned up and gloved now. She stopped twirling and her mouth dropped open at the sight before her.

“Damn! You look good! I guess those tailors were worth the time. The Empress is going to freak out.”

Tyr blushed and grinned nervously as Billie wrung her hands together before sitting down next to him, taking his hand in hers and becoming very suddenly serious.

“Tyr. I’ve been meaning to tell you something and I wanted to do it sooner rather than later, but I didn’t want to spoil this moment for you. If things go the way I hope they will with you, I wont be staying long. I don’t know what I plan to do, but I know there is something coming and I have to be ready for it. I’ve had dreams, visions I think, something the Dead God gave me. I Have to find this out myself. I barely understand it, I guess you probably understand it better than I do.”

Tyr smiled sadly and nodded,

“Of course I know Billie. It’s alright. I told you once before you have a destiny and I know you will be alone when you face it. You have been at my side since that day you gave me back my life and I thank you for your companionship. You didn’t need to. You could have released me to my own devices and gone your own way. I am very thankful you did not. "

He pulled her into a hug and she released the breath she’d been holding. Tyr had become a friend she had been sorely lacking, one who knew all her past yet never judged her. She would miss him she was sure of it, but for now she’d stick around to see his future secured.

Another knock on the door came and a crew member stated they were coming into dock now. Tyr took a deep breath, stood and motioned his arm to Billie who took it and they headed to the deck where they were met by Corvo, who grinned as he looked over their outfits.

“That does it nicely, I’ll be sure to send the tailors a generous bonus. They’ve excelled themselves. Alright, It’s time. As we are behind the Tower walls there wont be too many people to see us, just a small contingent of officers and some court staff. A carriage will then take us to the Tower.”

Tyr and Billie nodded in unison, both of them in unfamiliar territory. Tyr knew Dunwall Tower of course, knew it far too well, but even so, to walk physically there as a human would be a new experience. Billie had seen it only once before, though it had been brief and she hadn’t taken part in the assassination herself, being the watch the top of the water dock.

After the large ship had docked and they’d descended to the waterfront, the sheer scale of Dunwall Tower became clear in the distance. Coldridge prison sat off in the harbour mists and the new Tower Dock boasted fresh new paint and moorings that even the Jessamine could sit in. They were welcomed by Captain Pendrow, an old friend of Corvos, who clasped his hand warmly and beckoned them to the waiting royal carriage. The three of them boarded it and made their way to the Tower’s front entrance. Debarking from the carriage, Corvo smiled at his companions and waved his hand for them to follow him. They passed through the main entrance into the tower and immediately came upon numbers of people all milling around, waiting their chance to see and be seen with the Empress. Corvo walked ahead with Billie by his side and Tyr behind, who was pulling his hood up to hide his face when a short drably dressed woman, walked in front and grasped Tyr by the arm.

“You…..I know you...by the Void….” Her voice trailing off as she stood staring.

Corvo went to manhandle the woman when Billie in an instant gripped the woman’s arm and pulled her into an empty side room, Tyr following close behind, muttering ‘ _we have this_ ’ to Corvo.

She pushed the struggling woman to the wall and the Twin Blade manifested into her hand, she tipped it’s edge up to the woman’s throat and hissed at her to stay silent. Corvo watched intrigued as Tyr then stepped closer to the woman, appraising her. His eyes darkening till they are almost as black as before and it made the woman gasp with sheer terror.

“Lady Brimsley, though that is no longer your actual name or title, what an unpleasant encounter. Your sacrifices to summon me had the opposite effect you wanted I’m afraid. I watched as you did despicable acts to prolong your youth and beauty, and to call me to you. They failed on all accounts. Like so many others, you were seen and found sorely lacking. You survived the plague not thanks to me but to the effect of the developed cure and a masked assassin who helped you escape the flooded district so many years ago. Now you stand alone, a Brimsley in name no more, yet you keep it in the hopes that it still holds some sway. It does not. The Empress will never see you, knowing who and what you are. Your husband left you finally after many years of torment. He is to remarry soon, to a far better woman. No, you repulse me and you are going to forget you ever saw me or my friends here and then your guilt is going to slowly eat at you for all you have done, until you are but a husk. You will fade into nothing and when you finally leave this world the Void will not let you pass quietly.”

Tyr lifted his hood up and nodded to Billie who removed her arm, letting Brimsley sag to the floor. The three of them then left the room, shutting the door behind them as Corvo glanced back.

“He’s done this before hasn’t he?”

Billie nodded, adjusting her jacket “A few times, back in Karnaca. It’s been very useful, though it took a while for Tyr to hone it, he used to get blinding headaches afterwards as he reached into his memory to pull out everything relevant about the subject. He’s better now, I helped him focus this gift properly.”

Corvo looked over to Tyr, who had his eyes closed and was taking long deep breaths. He placed his hand on his shoulder.

“You o.k? To see people, truly know and see them, must be hard when they’d done terrible things in your name. I remember her. If I could have left her there and saved everyone else I think I would have.”

“I am alright. It is cathartic to let them know how I truly feel, knowing I can have some sway over what happens to them. That woman did so much it was not hard to remember her, though I wish I couldn’t sometimes. Thank you old friend.” Tyr replied, glancing back to where they had just left.

“I’ll make sure she is removed from the palace and never allowed back in. I may call on this skill again before I have to go back, if you don’t mind. It could be very useful.”

Corvo called over two guards and quietly spoke to them about finding a crazed woman in one of the side rooms. The guards left and quickly escorted the now mumbling former Lady Brimsley away.

“Thankyou Corvo, I’ll help in any way I can.” Tyr said, clasping Corvo’s shoulder as they returned to their goal, walking through the crowd until they reached the doors to the Throne Room, the royal guard there saluting Corvo and he nodding back to them. Opening the doors wide himself, he confidently walked in with Billie again at his side and Tyr hidden In sudden shadow behind his large frame.

Emily sat on her throne, speaking to Pauline Mayhew, her Captain of the Guard, mother of the late Alexi Mayhew and a couple of other aides, her attention quickly drawn to the new comers who’d entered. She was dressed in a rich purple velvet coat, with the signature swirling gold pattern on the black waistcoat underneath. Under it, a cobalt blue silk shirt and simple fitted black trousers, where her sword was slung on a belt and finished with calf length wrapped black boots. Her hair done in a signature twist on her head, softened with a few tendrils framing her sharp features.

Her face lit up as the Herald announced her father to the Court knowing how much it grated on him.

“His eminence Duke Corvo Attano of Serkonos and entourage of his royal court.”

Corvo grunted as he walked past the Herald and confidently strode past the murmuring crowd up to the stepped platform, separating the throne from the rest of the great hall. Emily smiled regally as she looked from her father to Billie beside her, her expression briefly dropping as she noticed the eye patch back on Billie’s face.

“Welcome Father, It Is good to have you here in Dunwall once more, what brings you the court?” she asked, as except for knowing he was here, nothing else could be gleaned from Pauline who smiled conspiratorially now at her father.

“Empress Emily, I bring glad tidings from Serkonos and her people, and ask that you grant me a private audience as matters have come forward that are for your ears alone.”

The murmurs increased in the throne room until Emily lifted her hand, silencing them instantly which made Corvo grin. She had come into her own power and respect quite quickly since her return to the throne.

“I will be happy to do so, The public audience for today is about to be concluded, if you will be so kind as to wait in the anti chamber, I will be with you momentarily.”

Corvo bowed ever so slightly, still hiding Tyr behind him, who seemed to be especially good at keeping himself out of eye line. The three departed and were led to the rooms behind the throne by a royal aide, then made themselves comfortable. Tyr walked down the long room, looking around the walls at the great paintings hanging there, whilst keeping an eye on the door they had just come through.

Emily soon walked in, thanking her aide and then as soon as the door closed behind her, ran to embrace her father, who returned the hug warmly. Letting go she walked up to Billie and offered her hand, which Billie took with both of hers, making Emily audibly gasp, feeling the cold of the Void artefact covering her own.

Corvo walked behind her and told Emily to sit down, which she did, sitting next to Billie who she kept glancing at.

“What’s going on father? Why are you here? Why is Billie here? How do you know her?”

Corvo shook his head and smiled, Emily still hadn’t spotted the other member of the group, who slipped into the shadowed back of the room, the moment she’d opened the door.

“We have someone you will want to meet Emily.” He said, lifting his hand towards the back of the room. Tyr stood forward then, and walked a few slow steps into the light, lifting back his hood and looking directly at the empress, a slight smile playing on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved the ship the ISS Jessamine and wished we could have spotted it in the game, not just as a blueprint and description. So here she is in all her glory. I know if she had been in Dunwall, she would have been destroyed, Delilah’s vendetta against her sister wouldn’t allow such a ship to remain with that name.
> 
> Tyr has an ability to not be seen. The hood allows him to blend in with the shadows, when focused he can simply become unnoticeable to people. He is also a master at dramatic entrances it seems.
> 
> Lady Brimsley - she is in the first game and others refer to her worshipping the outsider by sacrificing boys to bathe in their blood as a ritual to her success and youth. You can imagine how they makes Tyr feel cant you. You can find her and her husband on low chaos as some of the infected survivors in the flood district. She is arguing with her healthy husband about how they got into the mess. Corvo can rescue the party and she is just as unpleasant to him about their rescue. So I wanted her to get some karma for what she did. I could see her husband having enough of her eventually. 
> 
> I’ve drawn some fashion sketches of how Tyr, Billie , Corvo and Emily look. Gives you an idea of what’s in my head.  
> 


	6. Audience With Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily finally meets the human Outsider Tyr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah....Yeah this has taken a while. Self doubt and writer's block. I knew what i wanted to write but nothing worked until, i hope, now.

Time seemed to stand still as Emily caught sight of the man standing in front of her. Her heart pounded in her chest as her eyes focused on him, his pale green eyes and bright smile that were trained solely on her.

She couldn’t believe this was real, her hand coming to her mouth in shock to stifle a gasp. She slowly walked forward as if moving any faster would break the spell she must be under, until she stood in front of Tyr. Her shaking hand moved up gingerly and touched his face. The skin was warm, so warm. Tyr lifted his hand and clasped it over hers, leaning into the touch, finally able to feel her properly.

Emily looked into his green eyes and gasped at the emotion behind them. They were sparkling and so very human. It was true she had found his black eyes beautiful, like staring into the night sky, unfathomable and vast. But these human eyes spoke so much more to her now as they searched her face.

“You’re here, alive.” she whispered.

“Thanks to Billie.” responded Tyr as he looked at Emily as if for the first time, studying every crease of her eyes, the tilt of her lips and every hair fallen out of place.   
  


Emily glanced at Billie, who had unbuttoned her coat arm and removed her eye patch, displaying the Void artefacts that now were part of her. Emily looked back at Tyr confused, 

“What is going on? Did you do that to her?”  
  


Before Tyr could say anything Billie interjected.

“Yeah he did. But it was the means to save him. For some reason I wasn’t supposed to have an arm or eye, Time was torn somehow and in doing so, I had something that wasn’t mine. Anyway, these have been very useful so, I’m good.”  
  


Emily blinked knowing she had changed things for the better but it seemed fate didn’t agree with Billie. She hoped the other good things that had happened due to her changing history were still in place, she had only recently heard from Stilton so he at least was safe. She looked at Tyr again, who seemed so apologetic as he looked towards Billie, but Billie merely raised her Void hand and waved it off, practical to the end.

Emily looked back to Tyr and realised the emotion that was now in his face was something she had only glimpsed briefly before when he was still The Outsider. Those flashes of sadness, anger or amusement. Now they were out in the open and fully expressed. Her face lit up with a joy and she pulled Tyr into an embrace, holding him, praying that this was all really happening.

As if sensing her worry, Tyr wrapped his arms around her and whispered in her ear.

“I’m really here. The Void couldn't keep me away.”  
  


“I was so worried. When my Mark began to fade I feared the worst.” she whispered back, her voice slightly faltering with emotion.  
  


“I wish I could have come here straight away but I had to learn how to be who i am. But know every second you were in my thoughts.”

Tyr released the embrace and gently held her hands in his. Her revelry was broken by a gentle cough behind her, she looked around and saw her father was standing next to Billie, scowling even though he had a bemused smirk on his face as he fidgeted in place. She smiled, her father was always uncomfortable at public displays of affection, probably due to him having to hide his own with her mother, but the smirk on his face showed he was happy for her. She called in an aide, who immediately appeared from beyond the door.

“Call off all my appointments for the day. Something important has come up and I do not wish to be disturbed by any official nonsense. I will be retiring with my guests to my private chambers.”

Beckoning the group to follow her, she led them to her private rooms at the top floor of the palace. Sitting down and calling for some tea, she listened as Billie recounted how she’d searched out and then released The Outsider from his tenure as god of the Void. How they had been staying together as Tyr developed his abilities and fighting skills of which Billie was proud to say were on a par with her. Corvo and Emily sat enthralled even though they both knew the Outsider’s origins, to hear of how he got out was incredible.  
  


“So you go by Tyr now,” Emily said softly, as she took his hand in her own, which he rubbed affectionately, “I like it.”  
  


Tyr then explained his name and how the mark changed, that he will always be connected to the Void, allowing Corvo and her to still use the gifts he once gave them. He also showed her the voidrite sword he could manifest and that he had other gifts bestowed upon his leaving the Void.  
  


Emily sat back in the chair, after taking a sip of the tea, her lips pressed together in thought.

“Is it just Tyr, or do you use Saanehv still?”  
  


Tyr smiled at the incorrect pronunciation of his last names, as he expected it. No one had spoken that language in many generations.  
  
”Saan Ehv and no, I don’t. They are part of my name but echoes of a life that no longer exists. Though I don’t mind at all how you pronounce them. I suppose they could still be part of my name in some way. But I haven’t thought about a surname to be honest.”  
  


“Well you’ll need one if you are to stay here in the palace,” Emily replied as she sipped her tea again. “You say your ancient clan came from what is now Tyvia, How about a Tyvian surname? I’ve been in talks with the Isle recently and have been studying up it’s history and culture. Hmm... How about Samarin? it’s an old name of a long died out noble family but a story could be worked out that a distant branch was found in Karnaca as the new Duke investigated his previous Duke’s files. He would find out that you are from old nobility that have slowly deteriorated but still have their title. You’d be a Lord in title. Lord Tyr ‘Saan ehv Samarin’. The title would allow you leeway here in court and silence those who would try to look down on you. The surname, would be a title to you in a way as well. You’d always have your real name, but this would allow you to fit easily into the world again.”

She winked at her father, who nodded agreeing at her idea, it would be easy enough to make up some documents.  
  


“You want me to stay here in the palace?…” Mumbled Tyr as he held his tea cup, which rattled slightly against his ringed fingers.  
  


“Of course.” Emily grinned, squeezing the hand she held again “And I have just the idea of how you can stay close to me. I Have neither an official Royal Protector or Spymaster and I am in need of both. With what you’ve told me, I cant think of anyone better suited to both roles. You have knowledge that could topple empires. I’d rather have that on my side.” Her face beamed, awaiting his response.  
  


Tyr stared at Emily, unsure if he heard right. Billie nudged his side, forcing him to glance at her as she nodded enthusiastically.

“I don’t know what to say. You say I’ll be at your side? I accept, there is no way I could refuse and a Lord? A step down from a god but alright.” He winked at Emily which made her chuckle “In fact I may well be able to help with my story, suggest a few details of my family line to key people. The Samarin family line is one I knew well.”  
  


Billie let out a chuckle then which Made Emily focus on her.

“Billie, You and I have had a turbulent past and which we will always be connected by. But that is the past and not all of it bad. if you want you are welcome to stay too. I’ll have your record, your past cleared, a royal pardon for your invaluable help in restoring me to the throne and your helping bringing Tyr to me. Even offer you a position here if you like?  
  


Billie smiled sadly, briefly glancing at Tyr who smiled back.

“Thank you, your Grace, but I cannot. My future lies elsewhere. I’ll take the pardon though! Anyway, you cant have someone that looks like me walking around the palace, what would the Abbey say?”  
  


Emily looked to her father who shrugged. There was no Abbey presence in Serkonos for over three months now so he thought Billie had realised the events that had unfolded from the capitol. Emily let out a short breath, this was news she was happy to pass on.

“The Abbey is gone Billie. I pronounced it’s dissolution a few weeks into my restored reign, as part of my announcement of the investigation into the events leading to the coup. After publicly announcing findings the court had discovered during my exile and previous to it, the Abbey went into meltdown. The scandal rocked the nation. Stories of abuse of innocents, of torture and underhanded dealings. Of brainwashing of stolen children and blackmail and extortion of the crown. Abbey outposts across the Isles tried to rise up to quell the anger but it was too late. There was fighting in the streets as Overseers tried attacking the palace again, but after their failed attack months back, they were already severely weakened in power and numbers. They tried bringing forces in from the other isles but those chapters were having to deal with the same uprisings and public outcry. Abbey Office doors soon closed, people turned away from them in droves, finally able to publicly voice their disdain for the cult without fear of being branded as heretics. In the fighting, Overseers either died or fled, many leaving the Abbey publicly and trying to start new lives. Did you know the Overseers massacred the entire Oracular Order over three months ago? Wiped them out after the sisters appeared to go mad screaming The Outsider was no more. My father and royal guards had to take down a few who kept trying to get into the Tower to me.”

Her eyebrows shot up as she looked at Tyr, her voice straining slightly.

“They knew what had happened and it cost them their lives. Though of course they feared what it might mean for the order’s authority. The Abbey itself held out at Whitecliff, it’s last fanatics displaying the burnt corpses of those in it’s order who had tried to reason for a peaceful resolution, screaming they had become corrupted and needed to be cleansed by fire. They blared out that awful music from loudspeakers thinking those attacking were being influenced by The Outsider himself. But it was just trained men and woman who fought them. The Abbey was destroyed completely in a battle that raged two days before the last of them fell. Reports started coming in of the great cloisters in Morley and the few outposts in Tyvia on fire and now, there isn’t a single outpost, cloister or office left to them. I decreed people could still follow the Strictures if they wished, no one would be punished for believing what they wanted as long as no one harmed another for their beliefs, but Fugue Feast has been ended as there is no need for it any more. Now the two weeks it would have been held in are now called The Festival of Renewal where people celebrate and can be thankful for what’s happened in their lives the past year. It’s worked so far, amazingly, though I am always ready for something to happen as it always does here in Dunwall.”

She sighed as the last words came out, still amazed by how quickly the Abbey had crumbled, it’s foundations having long been on shaky ground as it tried to claw more influence from the Crown over the years, desperate to become the dominant force that no empire could beat.  
  


Billie looked dumbstruck as she glanced at Tyr who brought his cup to his mouth before a quiet chuckle fell from his lips preventing him from drinking. The chuckle soon became an uncontrollable laugh as he laid the tea cup down on the table and nearly doubled over himself in his laughing fit. Billie watched amazed as Emily and Corvo stared at him. Slowly calming down and breathing deeply, Tyr looked at Emily, a grin still plastered on his face.

“For over 150 years the Abbey had thrown it’s hatred into everything and anything me, they blamed all the woes of the world on me. Used me as a reason for _their_ abuse, _their_ torture, _their_ murders! But it didn’t take a witch to destroy them. It took their own deeds coming to light. They orchestrated their own downfall and I couldn’t be happier. I saw this path happen, one of many that could have, never thinking it would, though always hoping I’d be pleasantly surprised. Especially what you have done with the Fugue Feast. Did you know that was a festival to me before the Abbey happened? The Abbey painted over it’s origins to placate the masses and the whole astrological determination of when it ended? A farce. It always ended when the Polar Star shone brightest. The star attributed to my human birth. See It was a normal star until I was born, when it exploded in the cosmos and now pulses brightly at one time of the year. Oh how people forget.“

Tyr suddenly became very seriously and reached out to hold Emily’s right hand tight.  
  
”But be careful Emily. You said there were overseers who fled, went into hiding. Dogma like that, brainwashed into them, people like that don’t just stop believing.”  
  


Emily brought his hand to her lips in a kiss, an echo of what he had done months ago to her.

“That’s why you’ll be my Royal Protector and Spymaster. I may have to think up a new title. The Empress’s Right Hand perhaps? ”  
  


“...And here I was thinking they had left Karnaca after I ran into them at the Royal Conservatory and pretty much wiped them out for a contract.” Billie said quietly, as all eyes turned to her “What? I needed the money and they were hurting women who were powerless. I left their Head to suffer the music chair. Heard they found him bleeding from the eyes and ears, I wonder how they covered that up...”  
  


“Well, not much different to when I took out the base they had in The Dust District, Billie. I had a feeling you’d approve of this news Tyr” Emily said, before turning to her father, “Now enough with talk of the Abbey. How long can you stay Father, I’ve so much I wish to catch up on.”  
  


Corvo smiled warmly at his daughter, He’d been glad he’d been there during the uprising of the Abbey, though leaving just as it finished had made him worried for her, but she had not only got through it, but had come out even stronger. .

“A week at the most I’m afraid. But it will be good to talk with you, I’m so proud of you. Your mother would be too.”  
  


“Thank you father, a week is better than nothing I suppose.” Replied Emily, standing. “I’ll have the guest rooms set up for you all. Let you settle in, whilst I speak with father and arrange details of your new appointment Tyr or should i say, Lord Samarin.”

She spoke with a flourish as she turned to Tyr and he quickly stood to meet her. she brushed her hand over his cheek, staring into his eyes.

“I’m so happy you are here, you can’t know how much I worried after the last time we spoke. I hadn’t heard from you since your last visit to me here four months ago. You’d told me you could not foresee what was about to come but hoped you had imparted enough knowledge to those that were to come to you, so you hoped to see me again with new eyes. I didn’t know what you truly meant until now. When my Mark started to fade I was so worried, but I had to hide it all for the sake of the empire so newly healing.”  
  


“I did know Emily, for a brief moment before I was released. Then I worried just as much as you, I think. Perhaps for different reasons.” Their hands entwined and Tyr’s heart thumped in his chest. “Uncertainty is certainly a new experience, but what ever I thought, it doesn’t matter now.”  
  


Emily brought him into another tight embrace and he just held her, his eyes closed. Feeling as if he could stop time once more, to allow them a brief moment to themselves. As he opened his eyes he noticed everyone in the room bar him and Emily had indeed frozen. Emily looked around and then back at Tyr, who was suddenly grinning.

“Another gift it seems. This will be brief I can tell, but we have this moment, just us. I care deeply for you Emily Attano-Kaldwin. Mortality means human lives are over in a blink of an eye and I don’t intend to waste a moment. I knew I had feelings for you, even as a god but I couldn’t feel and experience them as I was. I just knew I cared more about your well being than anyone else. Now I’m human again, I feel everything that was repressed before and Intend to show you how much I feel soon. But now, do what you need to do and I’ll be here. I wont be going anywhere.”

Emily smiled as he leant forward and kissed her then, feeling her lips on his and it made him shiver, to feel her warmth and understand the depth of feeling between them. He thought so much about how it would feel, to kiss her finally. His lips felt swollen in such a good way, her breath mingling with his, her tongue dancing with his. He wished he could just kiss her for ever but he knew time was also shuddering around them as it fought his hold. As he broke the kiss, time reverted to normal. Emily exchanging a knowing look with Tyr as she called on an aide to show Billie and Tyr to the guest wing. Tyr smiled and bowed gracefully to Emily before taking Billie’s arm.

Billie shot Tyr a glance as they walked out of the private chambers, following the aide. The expression Emily had just given Tyr, something had just happened she knew it.

“That’s the look I told you about kid, and you just gave it right back. What just happened? I felt the hairs on my arms raise.”  
  


“It seems” Tyr replied as he whispered in Billie’s ear “I can freeze time, albeit briefly. I wished for nothing more than a moment in private with Emily and it happened. I wondered if Corvo or you would be immune to it as Corvo was to Daud’s time ability, but it seems mine might be more powerful or directorial. Either way it gave me the time I needed to tell Emily how I felt.”

Billie cackled a laugh and patted him on the back.

“Ha, good for you Tyr! I’m not going to ask what you said to her, I don’t need to know that. I’m just happy, you’re happy. You deserve this. “

\---------

Emily watched as the door closed on her new guests and she turned to the window, staring out at the river overlooking Dunwall bay as Corvo came up beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder in comfort. He knew she was holding back her emotions, She mirrored Jessamine in so many ways, he could see her behave the same way she once did. Emily shot a glance at her father and seeing his expression of understanding, broke down.  
  
"I cant quite believe this is happening father. When I’d written to you asking about your changed mark I didn’t know how to explain how distraught I felt. I thought he was dead. The last time I’d seen him, he actually looked worried. The Outsider, worried! There was something different about him too. His eyes, They weren’t all black, I saw green in them as if he was trying to show me something but the Void wouldn’t let him. I know you have a much longer history with him and I know at times you’ve resented him but I…”  
  


Corvo turned Emily to face him, father to daughter and looked into her tearful eyes.

“Emily, You’ve had to face so much in your life. Your mother’s death, locked away, then watch as I found you only to see me betrayed again. You stayed strong and kind even then. When I rescued you in that lighthouse I feared so much you would be broken by everything but you proved my worries unfounded. You’ve grown into such an incredible woman, a great leader. You stood alone and faced what ever Delilah threw at you and I watched it all, thanks to him. Yes there were times I wish I could have smacked his face but not being able to actually do anything gave me time to think on what he said. As much as his words bit, they rang true each time. Being stuck in the Void whilst you saved everyone I came to see a different side of him. He helped me in his own way and he truly helped you, I knew something was different even then. So when I found him with Lurk, human and very much alive and he told me how he wanted to see you, I just knew I had to help. I’m probably going to regret it but if life has told me anything, there is no point in what ifs. You want to be with him, then I will support you, but you know the way this family works, it isn’t going to be simple and after this week is through I wont be here to help.”

Emily buried her face in her father’s shoulder and let out a shuddered breath she’d been holding. She’d been holding herself together for the sake of her people, but behind closed doors had been racked with worry and fear. Even with everything that had just happened, her barriers had been up so as not to upset Tyr. Seeing the woman he’d put everything on the line for fall apart would not have been a good impression.

Impressions, that was the thing that had always been drilled into her since she was a child. Always told she would be empress after her mother had retired or died, taking up the mantle as her own. It just hadn’t been planned to happen so soon into her young life. She always felt she was two different people. The Empress of the Isles, a figure of strength and justice for her people, caring but aloof and then Emily Kaldwin, a woman who sometimes still felt like the frightened girl, defiantly fighting against those who lied and betrayed her trust all the while crying herself to sleep and having scary dreams of another realm she came to feel safe in. Or as an adult running across the roof tops at night, feeling that was the only time she ever felt free from the crushing responsibility of her position. Her time on the run had shown her that freedom was subjective.  
  
No longer the empress she could have disappeared, got a ship and headed to lands beyond her empire, but that sense of justice instilled in her by her mother, her father, she knew she couldn’t leave her people in the hands of Delilah. So she had given up her ‘freedom’ and fought her way back to her role as empress. Guided in no small way by The Outsider, by Tyr. She could have rejected his mark and she knew he would have still helped her with Stilton, would have shown her how he came to be, a very personal and frankly vulnerable thing for a god to do. It was then that she knew, somehow, he shared what she felt for him but could not show it. He risked everything giving Billie the means to get to him in the hopes she would free him, not kill him as Daud had asked. Now he was here to be with her, given up everything he was to be with her. She was sure if he didn't want to, he could have prevented Daud and Billie from finding the means. But the fact he actually assisted Billie's efforts. she knew he wanted out, because he finally had a reason to want to be. Her.  
  
To know her father supported her, even though he had known Tyr much longer and in ways she could never truly know, meant so much to her.

“Thank you father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The surname -Samarin which means ‘from the Samara province.’ There is a place in both real Russia and fictitious Tyvia with the name Samara. 
> 
> So there we hear of the Abbey falling. It’s canon that it does. To recap in canon Emily does dissolve the abbey when she gets her throne back. 6 months after DOTO, the oracular order is wiped out. which means the abbey is still around for a little while longer before it too is destroyed from within. I sped it up for narrative purposes.  
> Because of this the time known as the Fugue Feast wouldn’t be needed as it was created by the Abbey to allow people held under the choke of their strictures time to actually enjoy themselves. Yes it became about anarchy and that was another reason Emily replaced it with a more joyous festival, think Venice carnival. People could still let loose but under laws of no harm done to others (without consent of course.) The old feast would be an indeterminate length decided when it would end by the abbey, but anyone who knows religious feasts knows they tend to always fall at same time and seasons change, so the months are organised accordingly. The feast sounded out of place and made me wonder if like easter and christmas, it was a religious holiday pasted over a much older one and it made sense that it would have been a festival for the Outsider originally. The fact a book states the time the feast was held was ‘outside’ the calendar only lent strength to this theory.
> 
> So yeah, more of Tyr’s abilities are coming out. They are weaker versions of many we have seen him do as The Outsider. The ‘bend time’ much like Corvo and Daud, the latter who was able to freeze time around his void touched whalers to allow him and Corvo to fight without interruption. I wanted Emily and Tyr to have a moment alone and as Tyr is the most void touched of the lot, his power would be stronger, but still limited. So to recap so far he has -
> 
> Void walk - similar to transversal. He looks where he wants to be then is there. A swirl of void dust surrounds his movement as if it’s trying to latch onto their former god.  
> Bend Time - freezes time and can be directed to not affect certain people.  
> Recollect- Knows people’s histories and thoughts and can affect their minds. he will be able to summon items of theirs to him to use against or for them, though he does sometimes get headaches if he reaches too deeply into his knowledge.  
> Obscure -obscures himself from people’s views, but he looses focus if his mind is distracted.  
> His eyes go a glassy black, darkening from the Iris out (not solid black) when he uses his powers. I always wondered what Emily. Corvo, Billie and Daud’s eyes looked like when they used dark vision etc. The icon shows a cat’s eye, but I always though what if they were seeing the way the Outsider could see. What if their eyes went dark when they used that ability?  
> Void sword - Appears and disappears like Billie’s twin blade. Made from Obsidian and razor sharp. I wanted him to look like he carries no weapons on him, which in his future role will become an interesting plot point I hope.


	7. Blood of my Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyr and Emily get a moment to themselves and revelations of the nature of Marked people come from the former Outsider.
> 
> edited to add a section i somehow missed. It makes this chapter longer now and add some more detail to Tyr's back story. start of edit marked by ***

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is still fine for those who don't read NSFW but fair warning the next chapter will require a ratings change. If any of you have read my Vampyr works will know i get explicit.
> 
> Also i am SO sorry for the late update. I have had the worst writers block. Loads of plot where i want to take it, but not the words until now to get it there. So for those following this story, i hope you like the bit of crazyness i am about to unleash.
> 
> also thanks to 1L1ad on Discord for the inspiration. You are such a great Outsider rper. <3

Chapter 7

Blood of my blood.

Tyr strolled amongst the familiar layout of the palace guest room, having seen it in it’s many forms throughout the long years. Delilah and her witches had utterly wrecked the place, but now it looked as if nothing had happened. There was new furniture, new paint, new carpet, it looked healed. He smiled as he glided his hand over the polished wood, taking in the feeling of it’s surface on his fingertips.

He walked over to the open window, closing his eyes and feeling the strong breeze from the river on his skin. It was the Month of Song, the temperatures had been steadily climbing and Dunwall was experiencing it’s short lived warmer months. He wore now just his black embroidered waistcoat over a white shirt and charcoal grey trousers. Tyr enjoyed the feeling of the breeze, he enjoyed every sensation, from rain, to sun to wind, just happy to experience it all again. It was a beautiful clear evening and the sun was just setting, he could even glimpse the former Hound’s Pit pub across the water, now called The Loyalist’s Arms. Much had been renovated and changed but echoes of the past still haunted the place, it always would, the bloodstains on the concrete now hidden under wooden decking.

Tyr's thoughts were pulled to more recent events, ones that involved him directly. The past two days had been a whirlwind of public appearances and meetings. He had been nervous to show himself so soon and there had been some murmurings from people to him that they swore they recognised him but couldn’t think where or how, he had joked it off as just having one of those faces. He had first been introduced to the Empress’s council in private with the envoy from Tyvia very curious about his family line. He was able to assure them he posed no threat like the exiled princes and they had talked for hours about Tyvian history and culture, the envoy enraptured by his detailed knowledge of ancient Tyvia practices.

His public appearance at court and announcement as The Empress’s new Hand of The Empress, a title that combined both Protector and spymaster roles had caused much gossip amongst the nobility. Another young foreigner with ear to the throne, that even though he had the title of Lord he was an unknown. Some derided it, saying it was a bought title for what ever he had done to help The Empress gain her throne back, that he wasn’t truly nobility and never would be. He had chuckled to himself at that, if only they knew what he really once was.

Corvo had been close to his side to support his public appearances, to watch the crowds for any sign of acknowledgement of who he once was. That had only fuelled gossip of yet another foreign influence over the Kaldwins, but one look from the Duke if he heard any had shut them up. He had welcomed the company, enjoyed his many conversations with Corvo, though the one he wished he could spend more time with was always close to him, but never close enough. They had briefly managed to meet in the evening yesterday for a few hours and walked side by side around the tower gardens, stopping at the gazebo to watch the sunset. Emily had been hyper aware of the few people around her, stating there was enough gossip already and she didn’t want to fuel it more. So he had simply let her talk about her day, allowing her to vent her concerns and worries, knowing he wouldn’t judge her, to anyone looking he was playing the role of Hand perfectly.  
  
How though he had wanted to hold her, to place his hands on her face and pull her into a kiss, damn what people thought. Corvo had told him about how when he was secretly romancing Jessamine how they would have to hide their feelings in public and Tyr had smiled and simply replied,   
  
“It’s alright Corvo, I know.”  
  
Corvo Attano had been such a shock to the court back then, an unknown young commoner from Serkonos who had swept into the Court of the Kaldwins, been chosen at 19 by Jessamine, when she was 12, to be her Royal Protector. It had given him a higher social status but he was still looked down upon by both nobility and Dunwall natives. Tyr had experienced a little of that snobbery, but he was expecting it having watched it so many times before and it didn’t bother him as he could simply look at each person and see their darkest secret. They held no power over him and it unnerved the nobility, the way he would simply look through them.

He sat now against the windowsill of the guest chambers and smiled to himself, his thoughts pulled to the present as he heard a knock on his door.

“May I come in?” Emily’s voice came from the other side.

“You are the Empress, I don’t think you need permission, but yes, please enter.” He chuckled as she walked in and locked the door behind her.

“The day could not have finished soon enough” She sighed as she slowly walked over to where he was, pulling her jacket off and throwing it over the nearby sofa. “I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to be with you but my signing duties did not allow me much free time. I’m here now though.”

She raised her hand up to take his that rested against his thigh.

“There have been so many times over the past two days where I wanted to take your hand like I am now and show the world what you mean to me. Part of me wants to say to Void with it all, let them gossip, and that part is getting stronger by the hour. My father went through so much hiding his feelings for my mother, it was only when I was 18 and consolidated my power that I official _declared_ him my father, it was such a relief to be able to call him that in public and I know it was to him as well. I don’t want to hide my feelings for you any more.”

Tyr brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, his eyes never leaving hers.

“You are the Empress. If you command it then it will be so. I have knowledge that would cripple anyone who dared say anything against you. It is at your disposal.”

Emily shivered as his lips touched her skin. She would never get over how warm they felt, how his breath made her hairs stand on end. She moved closer, standing between his legs, as his other hand snaked around her waist pulling her flush to him.

“What do you command of me now Empress?”

Emily blushed, her thoughts drawn to their closeness, of the warmth blossoming low in her belly. He reached out with his hand and stroked his fingers across her law line.

“Kiss me” she whispered and he complied, bringing his lips to hers as his hand moved to cup the back of her neck. Emily moaned softly at his touch on her sensitive skin there and her lips parted, her breath mingling with his.

Tyr's breathing became deeper, he had Emily in his arms and he was kissing her. This is what he had wanted, needed since yesterday. As her lips parted he felt the desire to push his tongue into her mouth, hers joining his in a tangle, Their kiss became heated as her hands roved around his back and his other snaked around her waist to feel closer to her skin, even though there were more layers of fabric in the way.  
  


Emily suddenly released her grip and stood back panting.  
  
"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to come on so strongly. I don’t want to rush into things. I don’t know if you…” She paused, unsure how to word her concerns.

  
  
Tyr was breathing hard but grinned as she spoke. Dearest Emily, he would never tire of her concern for his welfare.

  
"I am not naïve to the world if that is what worries you. The cultists made sure of that. 4000 years of watching people has also given me a vast… understanding.”

Emily blushed, her hand coming to her mouth to hide her giggle.

  
"Oh I see. Still You’ve been here only two days and I don’t want to rush this. Perhaps…perhaps we should, talk.”  
  
  
She shakily gestured to the plush sofa in the middle of the room and moved over to it, rubbing her left hand as she was want to do when figuring out what to do next. Tyr had watched her do it time and time again and he smiled knowingly as he came and sat beside her.  
  
  
"If that is what you wish.” He placed his hand gently on her knee. “What would you like to talk about?”  
  
  
Emily bit her bottom lip and she felt his index finger draw circles over her knee. How do you approach something like this. Her last partner, Wyman had been a pleasurable past time, a mutual affection that had led to many a pleasant if banal evening. But she had not felt a deep keening when she was parted from them. She worried for their safety of course, but not a deep yearning to be with them again. She had changed and now she wanted more.  
  
  
"Well, You said cultists had made sure you weren’t _naïve._ What did you mean by that?”  
  
  
Tyr kept his eyes looking down at his fingers as they wrote ancient script over her knee.

***  
  
"I think i need to tell you about who i was back then. I was a no one, a young boy kicked out by an abusive father after my mother died. Illiterate, weak. I spent my life always running, always tired, always hungry. I started to think i was damaged somehow when i started seeing things shift in my vision. I know now they were hollows of the Void breaking through, but no one else could see them so i thought my father's beatings had hurt my head. My only solace was the ocean shore near the city i lived in. It was calming as i could hear the whale's singing. i thought everyone could hear them. It was the day i found an injured young whale, that had been dragged ashore, a harpoon still lodged in it's gut. I felt such sorrow for the beast, i could hear it's pained cries and it moved me. I tried, this starved, weak boy, to push the whale back into the water but all that happened was I slipped in it's blood and landing in a pool of glowing blue oil that leaked from it's side. I'd heard this blue fluid was dangerous but i felt no pain. The oil absorbed into my skin, glowing underneath as if it was part of me. "

Tyr shifted in his position pausing his finger movements, To remember how he was back then, how pathetic he was. He remembered it all now and he shut his eyes momentarily. He returned to drawing on Emily's skin with his finger as his eyes opened again, the movements cathartic.

  
"That was the sign the cultists had been looking for. They had been watching me after finding out the day i was born was the same day a star exploded in the cosmos. They approached me but all i saw was robed strangers and i ran trying to hide down an alley way, but there was no escape from it and they found me. I curled into a ball to prepare for what ever beating they were going to give but nothing happened. When i opened my eyes and looked they were holding out a thick blanket, food and a cup of liquid. I was terrified but my hunger won out and i took the food, eating it and feeling full for the first time in forever. The drink was sweet, but i began to feel so tired and as i fell to slumber they wrapped the blanket around me. I know now they had drugged me.  
I woke up to find myself in a temple complex, bathed and dressed in clean simple robes. my hair cut, my teeth cleaned. They treated me kindly, telling me i was a chosen one who would be exalted to a higher purpose. I didn't understand their meaning. I knew of the temple, it was the largest in the city, dedicated to worship and understanding of The Void. My mother had been a devoted follower. All i cared was that i was warm and not hungry anymore. They made me healthy again with food, educated me, trained my body with dance and martial arts, taught me how to read and write, said that i should have an understanding of the world if i was to watch over it. I along with many others brought there. It was there they decided i was the one, due to an incident that happened. They had to make sure my blood continued so i was made to lay with the female chosen there. Many of them became pregnant. they were taken away and i never saw them again as a mortal."

  
Emily listened as he spoke, her brows furrowing together as Tyr calmly told her about his treatment by the cultists. He as The Outsider had only told her how they had killed him, but to know he was kept for five years before hand would explain why he didn’t look 15. When he said he was made to, it sounded like mate with others, her hand moved to her mouth to suppress the shock. It brought back memories of when she was a little girl at the Golden Cat and overhearing some of the girls talking about how the madam was going to introduce Emily to the right men, to make her easier to deal with.  
  
She shuddered, her experiences worked with by Callista and her father all those years ago. She had come to terms with what she experienced but to hear Tyr had actually gone through it made her reach out and take his hand that sat on her knee and squeeze.

He looked up then, confused at first before pulling her into a hug when he realised what she was remembering.  
  
“I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories for you.”  
  
  
Emily relaxed as he held her and as he adjusted his position, allowing her to rest her head against his chest, his heartbeat a comforting rhythm as her own calmed.  
  
"It’s o.k. It’s just a shock to hear how you were treated. It almost sounded pleasant at times. But you say something happened to you when you were there.”  
  
  
Tyr began to stroke her hair, his own head tilted so he could make out her features as they relaxed.  
  
  
"Yes, We were all in Pandyssia still and one month during the darkest times when i was 17 an illness fell across the land. The Doom of Pandyssia itself. I became infected and none of their cures would work on me. It wasn't until one of the cultists remembered the whale oil in my skin and how i reacted to it. They caught and cut into a whale, draining it's blood and oil from it. I was placed in a bath of the still hot mixture and it felt like a lightning bolt through my body as the oil sunk through my skin, the plague cleansed from me. I turned my head to look at the dying whale and it looked back at me and i knew it had given it's life for me. I didn't understand then.  
After I recovered that is when they had me lay with the women. They felt my blood was too valuable to lose, they needed _reserves_. I wasn't allowed to become close to any of the women, they told me they had another purpose elsewhere. The only closeness i was able to keep was with other male chosen. i grew very close to one, he helped me get through the rougher days. I suppose it sounds bad, but at the time I felt honoured to have been chosen and happy to not feel hungry anymore. I didn’t know what they had planned of course. But mostly everything I experienced was better than my days surviving on the streets, where the only touch I got was from a boot to the ribs or spit in my face.”  
  
  
Emily hummed as she felt his fingers run through her hair, she reached up and unclasped the pin holding her hair up, letting it fall down over her shoulder. Tyr smiled and continued his massage through her tresses. Emily glanced up, her face slightly puzzled as a thought occurred to her.  
  


“Wait, you said some became pregnant but you never saw them again as a mortal?”  
  


Tyr laughed nervously, she didn’t miss anything.  
  


“Yes, when I became The Outsider, after a decade or ten I was curious to know what happened to them so I reached out with the Void and felt the tendrils of my blood in various people. I realised these were the early descendants of those that I …laid with. Their blood was my blood and I wondered if they too had a connection to the Void as I once did as a mortal.”  
  
Tyr paused, he was unsure how to explain what he was about to say. Emily glanced up again and seeing his expression on concern sat up to look at him.  
  


“Did they?”  
  
  
Tyr looked at her, his eyes dropping to her left hand where he lifted and cradled it, stroking his finger over the mark under the ribbon.  
  


“They did...Some of them became my first marked Emily. Only those with my blood can withstand the gifts the Void bestows.” he looked into her eyes as he almost whispered the last words and she began to comprehend what he meant.

“ _Only those with your blood_. Does that mean... I am a descendant too? This…this is too weird.” Her hand came to her mouth again in shock.

  
Tyr still held her left hand which lay calmly in his.  
  
  
"A long, _long_ , long way down the line yes, give or take 4000 or so years. Your father has it as did your mother, though she never asked for anything of me anything until after her death. You are strong because of their blood. I didn’t mark everyone who has my blood Emily don’t think your grandfather would have liked the idea.” He smiled wistfully, hoping she understood. “We may be distantly related but it is by a great deal of time. I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

Emily sat up, her mind trying to understand everything that had just been explained, though her hand stayed in Tyr’s gentle grasp. She was a distant descendant of Tyr when he was first human all those thousands of years ago. As was every other marked person who ever walked the earth. That would explain the interesting choices he made in who he marked. That both her father _and_ mother had Tyr’s blood. There was nothing wrong with them being related as it was so distant as to be ridiculous and he physically wasn't the same person as before anyway. But the fact both her parents shared some part of his being meant those that carried it must have travelled great distances.  
  
  
”Those women must have been sent to all corners of the earth.”  
  
  
"Yes, they were.” Tyr replied, “Once I became The Outsider. They were meant to spread the word of what had happened, but some vanished from the cities they were sent to, tried to leave everything that had happened behind and became part of the new societies that developed. The others became fervent followers of the cult devoted to my name and most died in the Rectification War. I watched those that were left for a while, some small part of me caring about their lives and I always knew when one came to my attention. So many sadly fell to the nature of man, using their gifts to control and destroy. So few ever impressed or fascinated me and none so much as you.”  
  
He reached up and gently stroked her cheek, bringing his fingers to caress and hold her chin.  
  
"You awoke my humanity so long repressed. My fascination turned to longing. But it wasn’t your blood that interested me, it was you.”  
  
He leant over and kissed her gently before moving away again.  
  
”I’m sorry if my words have caused you harm. You did ask.”  
  
  
It was Emily’s turn to hold his face gently as she returned his kiss. She chuckled softly.  
  


“I did ask didn't I and i want to know everything in time. But i suppose It could be worse, a lot worse. The previous ruling family were rumoured to have only married within their immediate relations, including bastards. Many noble families followed their example and I wonder how it’s affected today’s nobles. Sometimes I look at them and I just know.”

  
  
Tyr laughed, throwing his head back “It’s not rumour.”

  
  
Emily joined him in the joke before he calmed again, pulling her into an embrace that had her almost cradled in his arms.

  
"Know this Emily. I am not that man I once was before I became a god. I am something else now. Mortal, as human as biology will allow, but not _entirely_ human. I am as different from that Tyr, as I am now to The Outsider I was and ** **I**** love you.”

  
Emily smiled up at him and grinned mischievously, her fingers playing along his jawline.  
  
"If i am not mistaken, you also said you had a _vast understanding_ after watching people for 4000 years. What _exactly_ did you learn?”

“Oh so many things my dear Empress, so many things.”  
  
He leant down and kissed her, as his hands pulled her up onto his lap. She intensified the kiss as her tongue sought his, her hands roving over any piece of skin she could find.  
  
Tyr pulled away from the kiss and grinned, his pupils dilated so much his eyes were nearly all black. He pulled her in tight to himself and voidwalked them over to the bed. Emily fell back onto it as he leant over her and whispered in her ear.  
  
”Let me show you what I know. Let me worship you my empress.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i had this theory in my head for a while. There had to be some weird reason for the interesting choices The Outsider had for who he marked. What if they were long distant descendent of him when he was human?  
> We know the void can affect people negatively. Bone charms and runes causing some weaker minds to go mad or Ill. I already decided Tyr was attuned to the void is a perfect way, a perfect conduit for it's power. So it wasn't a stretch to suggest his genetic descendants had that power in some aspect. they could handle a taste of the power of the void through the mark. Of course some might have been weaker and thus fell to their baser instincts, allowing that power to corrupt them. The Outsider remarking on 'the nature of man' As he has witness time and time before. It wasn't until Corvo and then Emily that showed him there were people who wouldn't be corrupted.
> 
> the other theory that leant to this was the mention of how many of whalers fell ill when they lost their connection to Daud. Whilst he shared his powers they were able to have some of the void flow through them without effect. Except it did affect them, it was his shared power that kept the effects at bay. It was only after they lost it that the effects started, Billie and Thomas being the exceptions, because...they both shared his blood too.


	8. Embers on your skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyr and Emily spend the night together and Tyr shares more of his prior life with her, knowing it is only right seeing as he knows everything about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Repeat warning. This chapter is explicit.  
> Ive added this marker for anyone wanting to skip past the explicit part and read the rest which is still mature. 
> 
> *********************************************************
> 
> Also note for anyone joining the story here. My human Outsider was made the god when he was 21, not 15. He is a 21 going on 4000 yr old person.

* * *

*******************************************************************************

Tyr studied Emily’s face, taking in the sight he had wanted to see for so long, dreamt about many a night before. Her eyes blown wild with desire, her hair splayed around her head, looking at him with want. Stroking his fingers along her jawline, her eyelids fluttered shut, her breathing hitched.

As The Outsider, her face, her mannerisms, her voice had captivated him, like other he had watched in his many years. He had come to learn there was more to his feelings than he could express or truly understand, but he relished any time he could speak to her, aid her, just to spend moments with her even if he had to play the part of a neutral god. Now he had all the time In the world and he desired her more than ever.

“Tyr....” She whispered, the sound falling from her mouth like a prayer. His name, on her lips, said with more reverence than anyone ever said his old name.

He lifted his hand and ran his long fingers down her neck until he reached the buttons of her shirt, unbuttoning each one slowly. Far too slowly for Emily who reached down and yanked open the waistcoat over her shirt, ripping the buttons away.

“I’ll get a new one.” She panted before throwing her head back onto the bed.

Tyr grinned at Emily’s lack of patience, tutting to her and shaking his head. “I’ll just take longer then,” he whispered to her, grinning. 

His fingers were almost as ghosts over her exposed skin between her open shirt, making her sensitive hairs stand on end. Her breath stammered as he reached the waistband of her trousers, his finger tips running slowly over her belly, making the muscle’s flutter.

He watched as her body reacted to his touch, he could feel his own body reacting too. It had been so long, beyond reasoning, but he promised this would be his worship of her and so he rose up and kissed her again, greedily claiming her tongue, tasting her sweetness and swallowing the moan that escaped her lips. As he kissed her, his hand reached down and began unbuckling the belt at her waist, letting it fall aside as he deftly undid the buttons of her breaches. Emily squirmed impatient and he moved his lips to her neck, kissing the pulsing vein, gently sucking on the skin, making her gasp.

  
He grinned against her skin, nipping at it before sucking again. He felt her hands against his back, the nails raking across his white shirt and vest back, pulling at the fabric, tantalising his skin underneath. How he wanted to feel them there. He sat up and undid the buttons holding his clothes prisoner to his body, but before he could lift the shirt off his shoulders Emily lent up and stared.

His skin was like alabaster, his paleness never truly fading that much from his time in the sun in Karnaca. His pendant dangled freely from his neck. She reached out and spayed her fingers across his chest, running them down between his pectoral muscles, gently touching the pendant, feeling static electricity come off it. Her eyes briefly shot to his own, but returned to the pendant with curiosity. He could feel the void pulling at her mark as she ran her fingers over the stone and took her hand, kissing it before placing it back on to the bed, his eyes never leaving hers. He yanked his shirt and vest off before pulling the loose clothing off her own shoulders and gently pushed her back down onto the bed, throwing his pendant around the back of his neck, it's warmth tickling the skin there.

Her brassiere, laced at the front, came undone at his touch and fell aside, allowing his hand to caress her breasts, his finger tips running over her prominent nipples. Emily gasped at his touch, like fire under her skin. He pressed one between finger and thumb and rolled them, eliciting a long soft moan from Emily under him.

“Your voice enthrals me.” He said as leant down and took one of the erect buds between his lips and sucked making her buck and shriek in pleasure.

“Especially the noises you are making now,” he chuckled as he moved to the other nipple.

Emily brought her hands to run through his hair, guiding him up towards her mouth, hungry to taste his lips again. Their tongues danced with each other, as pleasured sounds escaped their mouths. Emily broke the kiss and stared at him.

  
"What will the guards think?” she whispered in his ear as she moved to nibbling at his ear lobe, before holding his face and smirking.

Tyr looked at her concerned, glancing briefly at the locked door, Before Emily pulled his face to hers again.

“Don’t worry, I sent them away. I told them I needed a private discussion with The Hand of The Empress.” she grinned.

Tyr grinned back, shaking his head “Clever little Empress. Then you can make all the noise you want, I want to hear you sing.”

He began slowly kissing his way down her neck, to the dip in her collarbone which made her deeply groan, then chest and stomach until he felt her lower belly quiver in anticipation when he pressed his lips there.

“you…always ….had a way…with words…” Emily gasped between kisses.

Tyr glanced up at Emily’s face, flushed with excitement. He reached back and pulled off one boot, followed by the other then gripped the waistband of her breaches and began to pull them down taking her smalls with them, he moved back with the clothing till Emily was bare apart from her stockings. When he looked back up, she was leaning up on her elbows watching everything he did and in that moment, she was breathtaking.

He paused, out of anyone she could have, she was wanting him, his doubts that always haunted him came back, whispering in his mind. He swallowed hard, no he was here wasn’t he with his beloved Emily, she wanted him and he breathed out a slow breath to send those negative thoughts away, though he knew he would never stop not quite believing his luck.

Tyr slowly crawled back up the bed, dragging his fingers up her inner leg till he reached her thigh where he planted soft kisses moving closer and closer to her sex which was already slick with her desire. He breathed in her scent, placing another kiss on her thigh before pressing between her folds and letting his tongue roll along the sensitive nub.

“By the Void!” Emily gasped as she threw her head back into the bed, which made Tyr grin as he began to lap and suck the nerve bundle. Emily’s panting became shallower and faster as the warmth spread from her lower belly and the jolts her nerves sent to her brain caused her to squeeze her eyes shut. She dropped a hand to his head and ran her fingers through his now mussed hair as the other sought the blanket under her.

Tyr growled as her nails raked across his scalp which only made Emily moan louder. He brought his hand up and slowly pushed one finger into her heat, curling it upwards, beckoning her body to react which it did, her back arching off the bed, her voice almost breaking when he added a second finger. Her hips shifted with her need to feel more and he met her movements, pressing a hand down onto her belly, grounding her, her fingers tensing in his hair as her own rhythmic movements became more erratic. He knew she was close, his fingers and tongue moving faster to bring cries from her throat that sounded better than any music he had heard in his long years. Her body jerked in response, held down by his strong hand, her hand gripping almost too tightly to his hair as the other twisted in the bed covers.

He lifted his head as he brought her back down from her climax and moved slowly back up her body as her breathing returned to something close to normal, kissing his way back up her flushed body.

“I have heard many voices in my long years but yours is the sweetest.” He whispered between kisses, reaching her face, taking her lips with his.

Her own taste mingled in her mouth and Emily sighed pulling him closer to her so she could reach the waistband of his trousers. Gasping for breath she broke the kiss, a small smirk playing on her face.

“You do have an _understanding_ don’t you” she said between breaths.

He grinned but glanced down towards her hands and back to her face, worry playing on his features.

“My empress I’m not sure if we should…” his eyebrows knitting together in concern. He was human again and as much as he desired Emily right now he worried for what could happen.

Emily sensing his worry, laughed softly.  
  
"Oh…You don’t have to worry, I take preventative herbs from the royal physician, I have for a while now. When I’m ready that may change but for now there is nothing to worry about.”  
  
She reached up to his face, stroking her fingers over his ear, making him tilt his head and sigh softly. His pale green eyes so full of love it almost made her heart hurt.

“Please, be with me” She purred as she pulled him down to kiss again. She would never get enough of kissing him, he tasted of the ocean air and a spice she couldn’t identify but had grown quickly to want more and more. She reached back down and fumbled at his trouser buttons, her muffled huffs of frustration making Tyr smile into the kiss. He reached down and flicked the last button, shimmying out of his trousers swiftly. His thin linen smalls now against her skin as well as his obvious desire, which she felt keenly and she moved her hips making him inhale sharply his neck straining from the overwhelming sensation.

Emily saw in that moment the echo of his past, the thin line stretched across his neck. her mouthed open in silent shock and she reached up, her hand sliding across his neck and his breath hitched. She paused looking at him and their eyes met. Swallowing softly, he took her hand and guided it to where a faint scar lay across his neck. He let her fingers trace the raised skin and she lent up, placing her lips were the scar stood out as he tilted his head back, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow and shaky.  
  
Emily reached up and slid her fingers through his hair. "You're alive, with me, now."

She slid one of her hands down and palmed his length under the fabric of his smalls, eliciting a guttural moan from Tyr, that for a brief moment made void dust surround his body, his eyes squeezing shut with pleasure. Emily grinned at the sight and slid her hand back and forth as she pulled him down for a sloppy open mouthed kiss. She could feel electricity building over her skin, her hairs standing on end, he needed her as badly as she needed him and it was causing something to happen around his body that excited her even more.

Tyr's whole being buzzed and he wasn’t sure if it was him or some residue left over of his past, but he could feel the void dancing on his skin. He opened his eyes and saw Emily gasp as she looked at him. She stared at his now open eyes and saw the swirling blackness surrounding the pale sea green, their eyes locking for a moment he reached back and pulled his smalls down, kicking them back, then lifted Emily’s leg at the knee, sitting himself at her entrance.

“Are you sure?” he said in ragged whisper. He wanted her so badly but if she commanded he would stop right now.

Emily nodded, enthralled by his shifting eyes as he slowly sheathed himself in her hot core. Shuddering as his nerves screamed to move, he held still, brushing an errant hair off Emily’s forehead, captivated by the way she now looked at him.

“You are my reason for living.” he whispered as he kissed her, slowly pulling himself out before thrusting in again.

Emily gasped as he entered her, as her body became accustomed to his fit inside her. When he spoke tears escaped from her eyes. They fitted each other like they were always meant to be together. She rose her hips to join his movements, her nerves firing up as he moved within her. If she was his reason for wanting to live again then he was her reason for feeling like she could have it all.

Tyr moved slowly, he wanted to savour this even if every fibre of his being screamed, but as Emily began to match his movements his resolve broke and he began to speed up the pace, making moaning gasps come from her mouth as she threw her head back and her fingers dug into his back. Tyr Lifted her leg to rest over his shoulder and Emily moaned loudly as her body shuddered, Tyr was hitting just the right spot inside her and when he brought his hand between them to stroke her, she almost sobbed with the sensations flowing from her core. Tyr looked at her, she was so close and he lent down to kiss at the juncture where her shoulder met her neck, remembering how she reacted before.

Emily almost screamed her pleasure as she clamped her nails into Tyr’s back, before her choked cry rang through the large room as her second climax hit her, the mark on her left hand glowing and Tyr moved to match the spasms within her, his own mind fighting his body. He picked up his rhythm as her hands clawed down his back, her nails leaving rake lines on his pale skin. His pleasure was building to the point of release, he could no longer hold on he thrust deep into her one last time and let out a stuttering growl as he came, his eyes flashing black, as void dust swirled again around his shuddering body. 

*****************************************************************************************

As his body calmed and the warm softness enveloped him, his eyes returned to their pale green and he pulled her close, kissing her gently, trailing them from her mouth to her cheek and jaw. Emily was his and he was hers and the world could end right now and he would be happy. He looked down at Emily to see her smiling softly at him, running her fingers gently through his hair until her attention was drawn to the the pendant that had fallen back into it’s place and she looked back at him, quizzically.

“It’s beautiful, i didn't know you had this. I’ve not seen any stone like it before.”

Tyr breathed deeply, his body calming, It’s energies contained returning within. He moved off her, laying back on one side and held the pendant, stroking it’s surface with his thumb.

  
”You have seen stone like this before Emily, every time you were in the Void.”

  
His other hand reached over and gently stroked Emily’s hair behind her ear and she turned to face him, tucking one arm under her head. The warm winds from the open window blowing gently across their bare skin.  
  
”Voidstone? How can It be here?” She reached up to touch it again, but he took her hand instead.  
  
”A cultist gave it to me, before. I was, am, immune to the effects voidstone has on the human body. It eventually normally consumes those who come into contact with it in this world, changing them forever. That’s how they knew I was the one out of all the chosen.”

Emily shifted, lifting herself onto her elbow as she gently moved her hand to Tyr’s shoulder. This pendant seemed to mean a lot to him, but it was from one of the cultists who killed him, surely it carried painful memories of a time he would rather forget.

  
”How can you wear it knowing it came from the ones who hurt you?” Her palm gently rested on his shoulder, but she could now feel the static energy radiating off the stone, It reminded her of a rune.

“One of the kinder ones. One of the few who didn’t want the ritual to happen, she gave it to me. It's one of the only things that's ever been truly mine.” He paused, he’d just had the most incredible experience of his life and as much as what happened to him so long ago was in the past, the less he thought about it the better. But, Emily deserved to know everything. After all, he knew everything about her, all the best and worst times of her life.  
  
"I told you about how I nearly died in their care, from the plague. After that happened, there were heated debates between cultists. Things were starting to be set in motion. Storms frequented the land, crops were dying and starving people were coming to the temple for help. The argument sprang from whether to move myself and others to somewhere else and if what had to happen was necessary.”

He lifted his hand away from Emily and absent mindedly rubbed at the ring on his finger, before shifting himself further up the bed so he rested against the headboard, beckoning Emily to join him, which she did, puzzled. She grabbed the wrinkled bed cover and pulled it with her, draping it over the both of them and settled next to Tyr, gently touching his hand with hers.

“It’s o.k. we don’t have to talk about this, about anything.”  
  
Tyr leant over and kissed her, stroking her cheek with a feather light touch. No she needed to know.  
  
”Dear Emily, you always care don’t you. I retain the knowledge of your life until I left the Void. I know the day you broke your arm trying something Corvo had forbid you to do. You hid your pain until you passed out and woke up In his arms as he carried you to Sokolov, no anger in his face, only love and worry. Your mother and he watched over you till you mended. I know the birthday where you held a seance with Alexi to try and contact your mother and cried for hours when nothing happened. I know everything that’s happened in your life, it’s inside my heart and yet you know so little about me. It is only fair I balance that.”  
  
Emily’s mouth dropped open as Tyr reminded her of things that happened back when she was a child. Of course he knew every detail of her life, just like everyone else’s lives. She blew out a breath and nodded, more to herself than Tyr. She knew what she was getting into involving herself with a god, now exgod who still carried the knowledge of everything he had witnessed. She shifted closer, tucking herself into his shoulder, which made him sigh contentedly. She kissed the skin on his arm and smiled.  
  
”Alright, fairs fair. Well, they obviously resolved the argument didn’t they?”  
  
”Yes they did. One night, some of the older cultists told myself and four other chosen, including Elai, the closest i could call to a friend, to collect what belongings we had been given and pack them as we were going on a voyage. We left that night on a ship as the storm lashed the city, lightning hitting the temple and causing the spires to crumble. We spent a week crossing the seas until we reached land. They told us this was Serrekinos. What would become Serkonos in time. It took another week to reach the top of the great mountain there and to vast cave systems where we set up a village.”  
  
Tyr looked out to nothing in particular as he recanted his story, but his hand found the pendant once more and he rubbed his finger tips over it’s jagged yet polished surface.

“My body was getting stronger from the frail creature I had once been. I now had muscle on my bones and they didn’t stick out under paper thin skin. My hair shone and my skin glowed though that could have been down to the whale oil they now often used on me, they were preparing me body and mind. They taught me about where we were, how a great battle between giants had taken place there and created the rift in the mountain. They inferred how important I was but my life was not as calm as it was back in the temple. They expedited the trials and tests on me and i began to notice how I was being treated differently to the others brought with me. The other chosen almost deferred to me, even Elai.”  
  
  
”Elai meant alot to you didn’t he?” Emily placed her hand over his that held the pendant, feeling it’s energy through his skin. She felt for him then and was glad he at least had someone close to him.

“He did.” Tyr replied softly, smiling sadly at her as his eyes drifted shut at the memory, Elai shared everything with him in the beginning, his friendship, even his love. They even joked about who could win each trial but as things changed so did his relationship, until Elai distanced himself only speaking to him in veneration. 

  
“The days got harder. Terrible storms lashed the mountainside frequently and soon we had to take shelter within the cave system, with myself being hidden the furthest in. The trials started to get stranger too. I was placed in a cave that shimmered and changed as I watched. But I felt only curiosity, I reached out to touch the shimmering shapes and my veins glowed blue and I heard a voice in my head whispering in a language I didn’t understand. Days passed and then one night I was brought to a small room in the cave systems where a black stone slab was, I was told to sleep on it and they watched seeing what would happen. Nothing did. Of course I know now why, it was voidstone and it showed I was attuned to the void unlike anyone else. I glimpsed others who had been put through the same trials and places where their skin had touched the stone had become like it.”

Tyr pulled Emily closer, running his fingers over her skin, drawing invisible shapes on them, remembering how even Elai had become marked with patches of stone like skin on his arms and face. Emily laid her hand gently on his stomach in comfort and Tyr kissed her forehead, then laid his own head back on the headboard as he he came closer to the end of the story.

“Soon storms came every day, food was being rationed as those who went out to hunt never came back. The Void was closing in on the world and would soon break though. It was time, I caught glimpses of the cultists whispering to each other, their gaze directed at me as I was led away from the rest of the group. I remember that night I was bathed, scented in oils, the skin around my eyes smeared in a dark paste of whalebone ash and I was dressed in a black robe. That’s when one of the female cultists gave this pendant to me. She cried as she draped it over my neck and tucked it under the robe, kissing my cheek. I felt a shift in tension then and I felt scared for the first time since I’d been taken and as i was led out of the caves I saw more of the cultists crying as I passed them. Though others sang praises to me or knelt at my feet."

Tyr paused, his grip on the pendant so tight, his knuckles were white, Emily could feel the tension in his hand and ran her fingers over his to try and sooth. He smiled down at her, taking a calming breath and continued, he wanted to finish his tale for her.

“The cultists led me to a petrified forest on the edge of the mountain. Under one of the great stone trees sprouted the black stone altar. All around the site the place shifted, trees vanishing to be replaced by red brick walls. That’s when terror overtook me and I struggled to free myself from the hold two cultists had on me, but they held fast and I knew, knew my life was soon to end. They brought me to the altar and lifted me up, laying me down on it, tying my wrists and ankles to the trees so I could not move.  
When i realised struggling was causing the rope to cut into my skin, old panics bubbled up from the surface and I went still hoping they would lose interest in me somehow, just as did as a boy on the streets. I heard loud chanting and sounds of others screaming, which i found later were the other initiates including Elai being sacrificed to power the ritual. When I felt the intense pain at my throat and I found I wasn’t able to make a sound to scream I knew it was too late. The last sight I saw as a mortal was the world shifting around me as void stone crawled up my bloody body and the cultists around me fading from my sight. When I opened my eyes again I saw very differently as the new god of the Void. I clothed myself as i saw fit but i kept the pendant close to me, all that time.”

Tyr was shivering as he spoke the last words and Emily lifted herself off her side to lay against his chest, pulling him close to her.  
  
“I’m so sorry for what happened to you back then. They had no right to do what they did.”  
  
  
Tyr brought his hand to her face and cupped her cheek, smiling softly he lent in and kissed her lips, before resting his forehead on hers.  
  
"For better or worse it meant I got to meet you. I wonder some days, if they had told me why they needed someone to become the Void’s avatar to save the world, whether I would have gone voluntarily?”

Emily lifted her head, her eyes glistening with tears.

“One death so millions could live, a noble self sacrifice, but you weren’t given that choice. You were taken and treated like a prize bull and then sacrificed without anyone telling you why and you were alone for thousands of years, the whales your only companions. No wonder you were cautious of people, though I am glad you allowed me to meet you before and I’m glad you choose to be here with me now.”

Tyr stroked his hand through her hair and rested his hand on her cheek again.

  
"I made my mind up long ago about that. The best choice I've ever made."  
  
Emily turned her head and kissed the palm of his hand before laying back down at his side, her hand drifting back over his stomach, sighing sadly to herself as the clock on the mantle piece struck midnight.

“I will have to go soon, back to my room. But soon, things are going to change, I cant bare to go through what my mother went through hiding who she loved, all for the worry of what the nobles might think. Right now though, I just want to lay with you a little longer.”

Tyr settled down next to her, her warmth against his skin, a balm that soothed his mind from his past, to their heartbeats that settled into a synced rhythm. He closed his eyes and gently let go of the pendant, moving his hand to hers, entwining their fingers and feeling finally at peace. Nothing would come between them.

  
  
"As i said before, I know their every little secret and I will happily use it as a weapon against them, should you ask it. I will always protect you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to explore more into the ritual that occurred. Something like that wouldn't have happened in a rush. It would have taken years or preparation and trial.
> 
> Tyr was a voyeur as the Outsider, it only made sense he would put into practice the better parts of what he witnessed.


End file.
